FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 3, 2002 

DEP Innovators Win Productivity Awards

TALLAHASSEE –Today, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) celebrates the accomplishments and productivity of its innovative employees. Fourteen DEP teams and individuals were recognized as 2002 Davis Productivity Award winners at a kick-off Celebration held at the Civic Center, Tallahassee. “DEP employees are committed to finding new ways to best serve the public and deserve this recognition for their achievements,” said Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary David B. Struhs. “Together, state employees have saved citizens and businesses billions of dollars while providing the environment with more protection.”

Davis Productivity Awards recognize state government employees whose work measurably increases productivity and promotes innovation, improving the delivery of services while saving taxpayer money. The program is a major government improvement initiative sponsored by Florida TaxWatch, The Florida Council of 100, and the State of Florida.

Since 1989, the Davis Productivity Awards program has publicly recognized more than 5,000 state employees and work units with cash awards, commemorative plaques and certificates. In 2002, nearly one thousand nominations were submitted that helped the state save $275 million and brought in an additional $46 million in revenue, totaling $321 million in added value. Over 14 years, this translates into a $4.2 billion savings for all Floridians.

The awards program also recognizes achievements that further the priorities of the Bush/Brogan Administration: improving student achievement; reducing violent crime and illegal drug use; creating a business climate conducive to economic opportunity; helping the most vulnerable; enhancing Florida's environment and quality of life; and creating a smaller, more effective, more efficient government that fully harnesses technology to achieve these priorities.

DEP recipients include:

Distinguished Work Unit Award

• STORET Team: To determine which waters are polluted in Florida each year, water quality data sets must be uploaded from government and non-government sources to a national data bank.   The team developed a custom-programmed federal software that compiles all data into a single national data bank. No other state has achieved this.

Distinguished Individual Award

• David Thulman and John Alden: Several phosphate companies were planning to shut down due to financial problems, potentially causing catastrophic discharges of acidic wastewater into the Alafia River and Hillsborough Bay. The nominees worked with the phosphate companies, their creditors, bankruptcy court and state courts to prevent the shutdown. They also negotiated an agreement with another phosphate company to assume the financially troubled companies' sites, ensuring the sites’ environmental integrity while saving the state millions of dollars.

Commemorative Plaque

• Improved Review Process for County Storage Tanks Program

• Inmate Worksquad Achievement

Certificate of Commendation

• Capitol Complex Recycling Program

• Customer Satisfaction, Increased Revenue, Cost Saving

• Conducting Prescribed Burns

• Environmental Litigation Reform Act

• Dairy Administrative Agreement Negotiations

Honorable Mention

• Electronic Access System for Inspection Information Retrieval

• E-Training for Data Systems     

• Tank School

• ADA Work Projects & Landscaping

Exemplary Achievements of State Agencies - Honorable Mention

• DEP’s Central Regulatory District - Electronic Issuance of Environmental and Public Health Documents