ANNUAL AWARDS - 2009:
On Tuesday, November 17, 2009, the Employee Suggestion Board and Office of State Employment Relations (OSER) honored annual award-winners in the Senate Parlor at the State Capitol in Madison. The following awards were given:
Individual Suggestion of the Year 2009:
SUSAN O’KANE (Department of Children & Families) was recognized for her suggestion, described below, which resulted in average annual savings of $176,148.00. By having Unemployment Insurance collections forwarded directly to the KIDS system (instead of via the Trust Fund), the following benefits are recognized:
- Fee savings per collection, reducing payment to the Trust Fund.
- Control of file maintenance and data transfer remains within the State (for example, future necessary changes are not at the will of an external vendor’s decisions, time, resources, and costs).
- Risks that may be encountered outside of State control are eliminated. For example, vendor site disasters, corporate closures, & unforeseen process changes.
- Reduction in unknown payer collections. The Trust Fund follows procedures to identify the payer of a collection. Due to deficiencies in validation data available to the Trust Fund, this process has been less successful than desired. Due to complete data access and control, the rate of identified payers is likely to be higher when processed by the State.
Group Suggestion of the Year 2009:
JOSEPH RODEFELD, KEN SCHMAUS, DAVID GREENE, SCOTT BRUMMOND, JEFFERY TAYLOR, MARK PFUNDHELLER, GARY DIKKERS, and CAREY HEYMANN (Department of Transportation) were recognized for redesigning and rebuilding the Wisconsin Aeronautical Chart using in-house staff and resources, rather than an outside source. Average Annual Savings: $89,900.00.
Special Safety Suggestion Merit Award:
TOM PLEUSS (Department of Corrections) received special recognition from the Board for three suggestions he submitted in 2009, resulting in modifications to facilities and equipment at New Lisbon Correctional Institution to reduce the risk of prisoner suicide attempts and violent attacks.
Agency Coordinator of the Year 2009:
HELENA HUDDLESTON (Department of Transportation, Division of Motor Vehicles) received this award for her outstanding work as the Motor Vehicles division program coordinator; DMV accounted for 14 of the 28 suggestions submitted by DOT employees to the State Employee Suggestion Program.
Agency of the Year 2009:
The DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (Secretary Frank Busalacchi) was honored as Agency of the Year for 2009, for its continuing active participation in the Employee Suggestion Program and for the innovative ideas submitted by DOT employees. DOT has won this award at least 18 times in the past 33 years.
Photo Album - 2009 Awards Ceremony
November 2009 Press Release (coming soon)
