Fall 2002 Awards Ceremony
Governor's Award for Quality and Performance
Braille Transcription Project
Department of Corrections, Department of Printing, School
for the Blind, Tacoma Community College
Demand for Braille products far outstrips the available transcription resources in the School for the Blind, and in the community. The Department of Corrections, Department of Printing, and the School for the Blind piloted and then adopted a transcription program that uses inmate labor at Purdy to transcribe materials into Braille. Using inmates has allowed the state to leverage the transcription dollars available - as a result, the number of pages being transcribed has grown by 2000%. Women inmates in the program have an infraction rate of zero compared with the inmate average of .6 per month, and some who have been released and are now gainfully employed in their own transcription businesses. In addition, by using inmates for the routine items, the professional transcribers are freed up to tackle more complicated documents.
Team Members:
Catherine Golding Kelly Kerr Colleen Lines Kandi Lukowski George Morton Larry Richardson Judi Sorter Dr. Dean O. Stenehjem Belinda Stewart Mary Trukositz Hisami Yoshida |
Governor's Award for Quality and Performance
Convenience Camping Initiative
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission
Washington State Parks continues to seek entrepreneurial opportunities to increase access to recreational experiences for all citizens. The Convenience Camping Initiative began as a pilot project in which a few yurts and cabins were installed in campgrounds to attract nontraditional campers and extend the camping season into the inclement "shoulder season." The concept was thoroughly "vetted" by the use of benchmarking and a solid business plan. The pilot structures were then designed and built by rangers on site, with high sensitivity to scenic and traditional landscapes; they were funded with lease-purchase funds repaid from the project revenues. Customer surveys and usage data on the pilots provided "proof of concept" sufficient to expand the project into other parks. The demand for the pilot structures continues to grow, providing a revenue stream of $7500 per unit per annum. In addition, they enable more citizens of diverse ability (including persons with disabilities, senior citizens and single-parent families) to enjoy an overnight in a state park.
Team Members:
Shawn Bristol Richard Brown Larry Chapman Jim Ellis Larry Fairleigh Gus Gustafson Brian Hovis Rob Kirkwood Doug Mackey Paul Malmberg Susan Mayer Lynn Nordloh Tom Oliva Erik Plunkett Don Powell Jim Presser |
Governor's Award for Public Benefit
Corridor Safety Program
Department of Transportation, Washington Traffic Safety
Commission, and Washington State Patrol
The Department of Transportation and Washington Traffic Safety Commission started the Corridor project as a pilot several years ago. In this project, they identified the stretches of highway with the highest accident and fatality rates ("worst first"). Once a corridor was identified, they collaborated with local law enforcement agencies, substance abuse organizations, and other leadership in the local community to identify the most common causes of accidents and fatalities - and then to design appropriate interventions. The efforts have reduced disabling injuries on seven representative corridors by 45%, and alcohol related collisions by 40%. The program has demonstrated its sustainability and is being replicated not only in WA but also in other states.
Team Members:
Matthew Enders Marv Ryser Brian Walsh WSP Field Operations Bureau Troopers |
Governor's Award for Customer Service
Client Satisfaction Survey Team
Department of Social and Health Services
Research indicates that success in reducing substance abuse is highly correlated with completion of substance abuse treatment. To this end, the Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse (DASA) contracts with hundreds of providers of substance abuse treatment programs across the state. These providers are public, private and nonprofit organizations, supported by different authorizing environments. Until now, there was no standardized way for providers or DASA to determine what kept clients in programs. Without that data, it was hard to improve the completion rate for clients in publicly funded programs. DASA worked with providers to not only get agreement to develop a client satisfaction survey, but also to get agreement on the content. They used a very scientific and collaborative process that has resulted in 77% participation rate among clients and 59% participation rate among providers. DASA and providers now have data on which to base resource allocation decisions, assess program elements, and set standards for best practice.
Team Members:
Kevin (Buzz) Campbell (not shown) Vince Collins Toni Krupski Dennis Malmer Tonja McDougall Felix Rodriguez Beverly Smith Ken Stark Fritz Wrede |
Governor's Award for Customer Service
Plain Talk Project
Department of Labor and Industries
The Plain Talk project started when Director Gary Moore
was given a letter to sign, and could not figure out what it meant. He charged
staff with making L&I's communications understandable to clients. Because
L&I sends out over half a million form letters annually, staff set a target
of 100 form letters to "translate into English." They systematically
identified the most commonly used letters, revising them in a collaborative
process into plain English, and testing them with customers. The result is higher
compliance (because people understand what they are asked to do), fewer calls
asking for clarification, and lower costs to customers (some of them hired attorneys
to explain the letters!). In addition, staff that has to translate letters into
other languages is able to do so because the English version is now understandable.
Team Members:
Carlena Anderson Alisha Atkinson Paul Barga Marcia Benn Pamela R. Bergman Dana Howard Botka Richard Bredeson Michael D. Burt Barbara L. Butler Kari R. Butler Scott Busz Yasha M. Conrad Noreen F. Currier Michael K. Dykstra Sandy Dziedzic Douglas A. Erickson Frank Fazekas Bernie Feldsher Renette Gillihan Gail Griswold Carolyn M. Hartwick William E. Hill Leslie Imbler Deanna Jackson Kristeen Johnson |
Victoria Kennedy Tamara Killmer Carol Ann Kromer Ernest F. LaPalm Arlene J. Liles Craig W. Lowe Diane K. McCoy Vivian Montes Tonja Martinez Donna M. May Joseph C. Molenda Janet Nickelson Dulcy Nielsen James F. Nylander Doric Olson Virgil F. Porter Carla K. Reynolds Lori L. Robinson Barbara A. Shires Nancy S. Sjoblom James T. Stoeser Karla K. Torner Valerie M. Valencia Michael A. Vert Cheri A. Ward Lori L.Warren Suzette I. Wells Angela J. Wharton |
Governor's Award for Financial Results
Consolidated Mail Services New Reader Team
Department of General Administration
Over the past year, the rejection rate for mail in the state-operated Consolidated Mail system was 14%. The result was increased cost to the agencies in the system, when mail had to be handled again; it also meant staff time spent processing the rejections in Consolidated mail. The Department of General Administration's (GA) project team determined that a major cause of the rejection was inability of the current mail reader to recognize the information on the envelope. The team researched the costs, benefits and feasibility of different options, and determined that significant savings would result to customers if they installed a new reader. Using the data they found, they were able to make a case for the investment. The results are reduction of the rejection rate to 8%, customer savings of $164,000 annually, and the ability to eliminate 3 positions in Consolidated Mail, for savings of $116,000 to GA.
Team Members:
Howard Cox Sher Dotson Doug Howell Jenene Huston Kathy McComb Bjarne Nilssen Martin Peters Paul Schubert |
Governor's Award for Internal Process Management
North Cascades Gateway Center Fiber Optics Project
Department of General Administration, Sedro Woolley School
District, Pacific Northwest Trails Association
GA's second project is a collaborative effort between GA and two of their tenants at the Sedro Wooley campus, the Sedro Woolley School District and the nonprofit Pacific Northwest Trails Association. When asked to identify the reasons for delays in providing service to the campus, GA staff identified slow modems and Internet service interruption as a major cause. The team collected data to demonstrate the impact on facilities staff of hours spent waiting for dial-up - time that could be better spent managing work orders. The team also researched a number of alternative solutions, their associated costs, and resources available from within GA and the various tenants. Using a grant from the Gates Foundation and expertise from in-house, GA was able to connect the campus to a fiber network at no cost to taxpayers. The results include: more than 50% reduction in staff time spent in dial-up, backlog or work orders reduced by 35%, turnaround time on work orders reduced from 15 days to 10. Fiber access allows the school district to serve an additional 60 high-risk students, and all tenants benefit from the connectivity that reliable, continuous Internet access provides.
Team Members:
Duncan Crump Jeri Krampetz Rich Shimizu Dan Singleton Burke Smith Harvey Vis Doug Walker |