Narratives for 2016 Employee Recognition Ceremony:

PERFORMANCE

BRIAN DECANTILLON is an Information Technology Analyst 1in the Bureau of Finance

and Administration. Brian consistently offers a helping hand in anything that is needed. He

is an intricate part of handling computers for construction project sites and along with Justin

Kilcollum, designed and implemented the new process for handling construction site

computers. This improved process saves time and has streamlined all future jobs to ensure

that the heavy load of computers get processed as quickly as possible to allow construction

projects to start on time. Brian works with an unbreakable dedication to his work for the

DOT. He is meticulous in all that he does. Brian maintains an extremely high level of

professionalism, and quality of work, while continuing to complete large projects, and still

find time to help others on a daily basis. Brian is being recognized for his hard work,

dedication and level of expertise, while efficiently handling a very heavy workload and still

offering his unit the benefit of his extra hand.

Brian was nominated by Justin Kilcollum, (Information Technology Analyst 1). Please

join me in congratulating Brian for his recognition award in Performance.

JOHN DELIBERTO is a Transportation Engineer 3 in the Bureau of Engineering and

Construction’s District 2 office. John joined the District 2 team less than two years ago.

In that time, he has become an essential part of the District 2 family. John’s work is

exemplary. He is thorough, organized and level-headed. John is currently overseeing an

accelerated bridge construction project on I-95. He was selected for this assignment

because of his competence and professionalism. John carries one of the heaviest

workloads in the District, and does so with a very calm demeanor. He also finds time

for process improvement. Recently, he took it upon himself to develop several reports

that cull information from Site Manager and present it in a more useful, user-friendly

manner. In addition, he developed a new process for distributing and managing District

correspondence using the District e-mailbox and Outlook rules. When presented to the

management team, and it was adopted as a “Best Practice” for the Department. Along

with his official work responsibilities, John takes the time to get involved in several

ancillary District activities, such as Diversity Day, Soup Club and assists with retirement

parties. He is always eager to help with any other initiatives that may arise. John’s

innovative and enthusiastic approach to his job has made him an invaluable part of

District 2 and the Department as a whole.

John was nominated by Eileen Ego, Assistant District Engineer. Please join me in

congratulating John for his recognition award in Performance.

ANTHONY DELUCCO is a Property Agent II in the Bureau of Engineering and

Construction Rights of Way Appraisal section. Anthony possesses a thorough

understanding of the Federal Regulations pertinent to the State transportation initiative

and federal funding (known as 49 CFR) as well as FTA. His full knowledge includes

State Real Estate Appraiser Licensing Regulations, the Uniform Standards of

Professional Appraisal Practice, and the Connecticut Law on Eminent Domain. As the

Appraiser is often the first point of contact with the affected property owner, Anthony’s

excellent interactive social skills are critical. Anthony is adept at obtaining legal

information from town offices. He has the engineering knowledge to read construction

plans, cross sections and profiles to fully comprehend the scope and effect of the State’s

proposed construction. This is essential to estimating appropriate damages and fair

compensation due the property owner. He has the exceptional skills required to testify

and support Assistant Attorneys General in their presentation on behalf of the State.

Anthony has taken all of this knowledge and skill and volunteered to train approximately

ten new Rights of Way employees, some of which are CT career trainees who have no

prior experience. To teach these duties and skills, takes patience and excellent

communication skills. This is a very time and labor intensive task, which he has handled

extremely well, in addition to his present workload. Anthony is consistently at the top of

the list of his peers, and produces approximately 33% above the unit average. Aside

from these accomplishments, Anthony has completed some of the most complex

appraisal and review assignments; the Walk Bridge project being the most current

example, where two of the property appraisals are in the tens of millions. Anthony is

also frequently consulted by individuals from within and outside the Appraisal section

and he never hesitates to help. Anthony excels on all fronts, and his devotion and

commitment to the Department and the future leaders of this office is commendable.

Anthony was nominated by Brian Marchi, Supervising Property Agent

YURE KULJIS is a Transportation Supervising Engineer in the Bureau of Public

Transportation’s Office of Rail. Yure went above and beyond his regular job duties

when he organized a series of onsite training courses in rail-specific subjects for the

benefit of the employees in the Office of Rail. The courses, presented by the University

of Wisconsin, provided in-depth training in subjects such as railroad signalization, track

construction, and electric traction systems. Recognizing that much of the staff in the

Office of Rail lacked formal railroad training, and understanding the Department’s need

for subject-matter experts in rail, Yure took it upon himself to organize the classes and

arrange for the necessary permissions and funding. Considering the needs of the entire

Office of Rail, he made sure to include staff from the Office of Rail Construction in New

Haven. His efforts provide a significant investment in human resources within the

Office of Rail. The Department’s rail staff is now much better equipped with the

knowledge necessary to maintain the safety and the state of good repair of our rail

infrastructure. Yure’s efforts will pay big dividends in the future as the demands on the

Office of Rail increase with the growth of rail as a mode of travel.

Yure was nominated by John Bernick, Public Transportation Assistant Administrator.

WALLY LUGLI is a Finance Administrator in the Bureau of Finance and

Administration. Wally has been instrumental in working with the staff from all the

Bureaus in the development of the Let’s Go CT Vision for Transportation, from its

initial stages through development of the 5 year Ramp Up plan and it’s ever changing

project lists, and finally implementation. He dedicated countless hours to work with the

Transportation Finance Panel, answering questions and providing information on the

complexities of transportation financing, so that they might provide a financing plan to

support the Let’s Go CT Vision. Finally he worked tirelessly with Operating Bureau

staff in the development and implementation of the Let’s Go CT – Dashboard to make

the Ramp-Up progress understandable and transparent to the Administration, all

stakeholders and the General Public. He did all this while working through his full time

job as Finance Administrator – developing and implementing the DOT Operating and

Capital Budgets, following legislation, and solving day to day funding and logistic

problems for the agency. In addition to his regular duties, he also worked on the

Electronic Engineering Invoice System Design, the STIC – Mobile Computing Devices

Initiative, the Tax Advantage Leasing unwinding, the transition of the Ports function to

the CT Port Authority, The STO Bond Sale, and led his team to bring the

FHWA/Inactive projects to an all-time low percentage. And the list could go on.

As an indicator of his many talents, he is also famous for his lasagna at DOT holiday

parties, his clam chowder at the summer picnic and his orchestrating/catering the

Finance and Administration Holiday Party – always trying to provide good food and

good times at a good value for the staff at DOT

Wally was nominated by Robert Card – Bureau Chief of Finance and Administration.

JANET MAZEAU is a Transportation Supervising Engineer in the Bureau of

Engineering’s Office of Construction. Janet works diligently every day to provide

exceptional quality in her work. Janet is a thorough and skilled licensed engineer, who

takes pride in the details of her work. This past year, Janet took on the tremendous task

of personally overseeing and editing the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s

latest standard specification book for Roads, Bridges, Facilities and Incidental

Construction (known as the Form 817). This task had 10 years of supplements to input

and update, including a new section on Facilities Construction. Janet went above and

beyond the call of her engineering background to personally edit and fret over every

single word, chart and detail on every page in this 758-page book. Janet is an

exceptional engineer and is acknowledged for her constant hard work and dedication to

the Department.

Janet was nominated by Theresa Donahue, Transportation Engineer 3.

ALBERT MESSORE (Ma Soar e) is a Transportation Engineer 3 in the Bureau of

Engineering and Construction assigned to District 1A. Since Al took over Project

Engineer duties in 2011, he has worked tirelessly to bring one of the most challenging

projects that the Department has constructed to completion. The project is the

Component Change-Out Shop at the New Haven Rail Yard, which is a four-story,

300,000 square foot multi-function building. This project began in 2010 and has been

impacted by numerous issues, including differing site conditions, numerous design

revisions, scope changes, code discrepancies, claims, contractor performance issues and

personnel changes. Due to the number of revised plans and specifications issued, Al has

reviewed and processed over 1,200 change order items. This required detailed reviews

of the modifications so that the manpower, materials and equipment could be estimated

to negotiate with the general contractor, along with their 120 subcontractors, to ensure

that the agreement was both fair and reasonable. With rare exception, Al has been the

first person in the office every morning, usually by 6:30, if not earlier, at his desk

grinding through the hundreds of daily emails, processing paperwork, reviewing design

changes, coordinating with Metro-North Railroad, overseeing a consultant engineering

and inspection staff as high as 20 people, as well as keeping senior DOT staff updated

on project progress and issues. Whatever new challenges the project encountered,

Albert rarely complained and simply worked the issue to resolution. Al defines

perseverance. His work ethic and dedication to the project and the Department are

commendable. Al sets the bar for what a Project Engineer should be and is truly

deserving of recognition for the effort he has put forth.

Albert was nominated by Michael Mendick, Assistant District Engineer.

ANDREW MODEEN is a QCW Electrician in the Bureau of Highway Operations’ District

4 Southbury Electrical facility. It is a constant staffing challenge for the Bureau of Highway

Operations, to find electricians who also hold the required CDL license to fill positions in

District Electrical crews. Before working in Southbury Electrical, Andrew was a Maintainer 2

in Highway Maintenance. Andrew took it upon himself to take electrical courses at night to

acquire the background needed to qualify him to work in the electrical crew. There is a lot to

learn working with traffic signals and in a brief amount of time, Andrew has learned very

much, and he is also doing very well with highway illumination. Andrew acts as Crew Leader

when called upon, and does an excellent job while filling in. Having electrical callouts 24/7,

365 days a year, Andrew has to work as much overtime as Crew Leaders. He responds to

traffic signal and highway illumination callouts. He can handle a crew of many numbers, and

he takes charge with no hesitation. Andrew is very dependable and sacrifices a lot for the

Department. Andrew’s Crew Leader, Mark Russo, has stated that he is proud to have him in

his garage, and he wishes all of his crew members had Andrew’s heart, as he makes his job a

lot easier. According to Mark Russo, whenever he calls Andrew in, regardless of weather,

heat, rain, snow or type of call, he is never questioned by him – he just simply takes the call

and reports for duty. He leads by example, and does not give a job to anyone that he would

not do himself. Andrew has also worked on the Road Weather Information System project,

building these stations from the ground up. These stations monitor road conditions in the

winter throughout the state, and are integral to the Department’s winter storm operations.

Andrew was nominated by Mark Russo, Crew Leader.

MICHAEL ROSENBLATT is a Transportation Engineer 2 in the Bureau of Engineering

and Construction’s District 3 office. During the 2014/2015 winter, Michael was given the

opportunity to become the Chief Inspector on the Department’s first Design Build project, the

success of which was crucial to the future of DOT’s Design Build program. Over the course

of the 2015/2016 construction seasons, Michael provided invaluable support in the

administration of this very complicated and ambitious project. Once assigned to the project,

Michael quickly adapted to the changing needs of the Department in order to administer this

pilot project. As this was the first Design Build project, the learning curve was steep and the

project was truly a trial by fire endeavor. While adjusting to the Design Build process, he

also took on the additional load of learning to use the Primavera Contract Manager system; a

system reserved for larger, submittal-heavy projects. Due to the intricacies of a complicated

cost-loaded schedule being used on the project, Michael was also tasked with developing a

means to track monthly progress for design and construction activities on the project. The

solution was a 17-page Excel workbook that not only assisted in the development of monthly

pay estimates, but also proved to be a helpful tool for District Management to track project

progress and payments. Whether working with the contractor, or providing guidance to

newer employees in his charge, Michael shows outstanding leadership and communication

skills throughout the project. Michael’s hard work and dedication to the project has allowed

him to surpass all normal expectations of a Chief Inspector. Based on the performance

witnessed over the course of the last year, on this once in a lifetime project, Michael has

achieved excellence in job performance.

Michael was nominated by Scott Adkins, Transportation Engineer 3.

JENNIFER TRIO is a Transportation Supervising Engineer in the Bureau of Finance and

Administration’s Capital Services division. Each day, Jennifer goes above and beyond the

expectations and requirements of her position in every way. She comes in every day truly

caring about her work and is passionate in her completion of it. As supervisor of the

Highways, Programming and Scheduling unit with the Capital Services division, Jennifer

has responsibility for planning, implementing and accounting for a Highway and Bridge

Capital program that utilizes approximately $1 billion per year of State and Federal funds.

Jennifer takes her responsibility as steward of the State and Federal funds very seriously,

and is dedicated to insuring the appropriate, effective use of funds to maximize benefits to

the State’s Transportation Capital program. Jennifer puts forth a mammoth effort to ensure

that the work done in her area is accurate and thorough. She works whatever hours are

necessary to meet deadlines and never does anything halfway. There is no “good enough”

or giving up with Jennifer. She tackles the toughest assignments, accounting for all

factors, considering every nuance, resulting in an end product that is always superb. The

Highways, Programming and Scheduling unit is an extremely busy area, with many

demands being made on a daily basis. Jennifer has an amazing ability to keep track of a

multitude of tasks and deadlines, and to prioritize work to ensure that the most critical

work gets attention first. Whether she is putting together the five-year capital plan,

working with engineers on project specific issues, reviewing project funding requests,

directing staff, responding requests for information, or working on special high-priority

initiatives, Jennifer is always a professional, and can always be depended upon to get the

job done, and get it done right. We are lucky to have Jennifer on team DOT, and she is

being recognized for her exemplary performance.

Jennifer was nominated by Patricia Hustus, Director of Capital Services.

SAFETY

MICHAEL MENNELLA is a Crew Leader in the Bureau of Highway Operations’ District 1

Farmington Maintenance facility. Prior to his appointment as a Crew Leader, his background

was a garage clerk and as a highway maintainer. Michael’s attention to detail with

recordkeeping during the Department’s Vendor in Place paving season, during emergency

storms and on a daily basis has been exceptional. Michael consistently leads the employees

he supervises in a positive manner while maintaining a high level of productivity. Michael

has set goals and demonstrated that he can lead his team to reach those goals and far exceed

them, while maintaining a high level of safety during work zone operations, and snow and ice

removal. Michael is always willing to help others and take on other projects, with a

willingness to learn. He regularly demonstrates leadership skills, and passes these skills onto

others that he supervises, placing them in a role to succeed. Michael also acts in a General

Supervisory capacity as needed, and provides the best possible customer service to the

traveling public while doing so. In addition, Michael has demonstrated time savings in daily

work by planning and estimating multiple jobs, and allowing for unforeseen events that occur

on our interstate system on a daily basis. Michael is very solution oriented. He has

efficiently worked toward our Department’s quick-clear policy during accidents and incidents

and effectively communicates with other emergency response units during those stressful

times. Michael provides excellent customer service, and has gone above and beyond when

personal property has been found on our State roads. He has utilized his interpersonal skills

when responding to complaints received from the general public. This is very important as a

Crew Leader because he and the crew he supervises are frequently the first representatives of

the Department that the traveling public comes in contact with. Michael’s excellent job

performance is appreciated.

Michael was nominated by John Wells, General Supervisor.

TEAMWORK

CALVIN ORTIQUE, Rail Officer 1 and RAMZEE BEYAH AND CHARLES CLARKE,

Rail Officer 2’s work in the Bureau of Public Transportation’s Rail Operations unit at the New

Haven Train station. The Equipment section in Rail Operations is increasingly very busy with a

few major projects on the heels of the M8 procurement. Locomotive overhauls are being re-

advertised, and the unit is preparing the current rail cars for Hartford Line service, planning

procurement programs for new coach cars and locomotives for Metro-North push/pull service;

as well as meeting the full future demand of the Hartford Line service. Each member of the

team is being drawn upon to take on new challenges, be it one of these major programs,

following up on fleet modifications and warranty issues remaining in the M8 cars, or

performing FTA-mandated oversight. Charles, Ramzee and Calvin have taken advantage of

each other’s strengths, overlapped what they are working on where possible to provide

continuous coverage on the most important projects, and taken on additional, unfamiliar tasks

with a desire to learn and be as much help to each other and to their supervisor as possible. By

truly coming together as a team; everyone, from the Department to our riders, benefits from

better service delivery. Best of all, is the can-do attitude that they come in with every single

day. It is said that a team is stronger than the sum of its parts; these three guys demonstrate that

daily, and especially during the most difficult times. Marci Petterson has stated that she feels

privileged to supervise them on a daily basis, but never more so than when they have to drop

whatever they are working on to come together as a group for a combined effort on a super-hot

item; each of them bringing their own perspective and talents to the effort, completing the task

quickly and thoroughly, and then dispersing back to their own work, knowing it was a job well

done.

This team was nominated by Marci Petterson, Supervising Rail Office.

The following employees from the Bureau of Engineering and Construction are being

recognized for Teamwork: District 3’s Project Engineer SCOTT ADKINS, Chief

Inspector MICHAEL ROSENBLATT, and Inspectors

TRAVIS WOODWARD

JOHN ANCHETA

ROBERT SPINA

SALVATORE MORELLO

CURTIS WHEATLEY

NOJY AUGUSTIN

AKILU BEYENE

ZACHARY LATHAM

THOMAS LANTZ;

as well as District 4 Inspector JOHN MURPHY,

AND Supervising Engineer ANDREW CARDINALI from Design.

Project 15-363 replaces four bridges on Route 8 in Bridgeport. This project was awarded to

Manafort Brothers on April 10, 2015 for $34,752,000 and is Connecticut DOT’s first

Design/Build delivery method. In addition to the new delivery method, this project utilized

Accelerated Bridge Construction techniques wherein 24 prefabricated bridge units were

constructed in nearby highway gore areas. This construction methodology was chosen due

to the nature of the work and the magnitude of the project. Located in Bridgeport, this

section of highway carries 88,000 vehicles per day over heavily traveled local roadways.

Any impacts to travel severely affected local stakeholders, including St. Vincent’s Hospital,

requiring considerable public outreach. Mainline traffic was shifted and local roadways

detoured during two, 2-week closure periods through the summer of 2016. The

prefabricated bridge units were installed following the demolition of the existing Capitol

Avenue and Lindley Street Bridges. To achieve the goal, 40,000 cubic yards of

embankment had to be constructed, requiring work to be performed around the clock by over

100 construction, design and inspection personnel. Twelve-hour work shifts were

demanding, physically and mentally. Team members endured the relentless summer heat

and humidity day and night. Each closure period finished ahead of schedule. This project

team is being recognized for not only the outstanding work performed during each of the

two-week closure periods, but for the overall success of this unique project.

This team was nominated by James Pelletier, Transportation Supervising Engineer.

ERIC LLYOD and ASHISH PATEL, Transportation Engineer 3s, CHETTRA

HENG AND JOHN MACHNICKI, Transportation Engineer 2s, and JUSTIN

PAPROTA, Transportation Engineer 1.

This team works in the Bureau of Public Transportation’s Office of Rails. This Design

unit is a small unit that manages the design and design services during construction of

multi-million dollar complex railroad projects for the entire State. With their combined

engineering backgrounds in Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, this team

works to deliver exceptional railroad projects in the State of Connecticut. Some of the

most important projects that they have delivered include railroad facilities, railyards,

railroad stations, parking garages, railroad traction power, to name a few, in the busiest

single commuter rail line in the nation, the Metro-North New Haven line. Some design

projects, such as the Wilton Railroad Station Lighting project, have been done in-house,

saving the State of Connecticut hundreds of thousands of dollars. This team’s

supervisor, has stated that the most important assets of his team include the following:

Their mission is to provide a safe and efficient intermodal transportation railroad

network in the State; they cooperate with each other and share valuable information and

have learned lessons from their own projects; they are up to date with the latest

engineering requirements and trends to help each other; and they learn from each other’s

skills and backgrounds. Their teamwork is superb.

This team was nominated by Yure Kuljis, Transportation Supervising Engineer.

The next team award goes to: JACOB BOOTH, Transportation Engineer 2 in the

Bureau of Public Transportation’s Office of Rail; MEI WONG of Bridge Management,

and ARMIN KAMALI of Bridge Safety and Evaluation, who are both Transportation

Engineer 3s in the Bureau of Engineering and Construction.

This team has been diligently working together for the past year and a half on the bridge

inspection database, known as InspectTech. Bridge Safety and Evaluation and the Office of

Rail inspection teams utilize InspectTech to record all inspection information. Reports are

electronically written and approved, and photos and sketches are uploaded. Mei, Armin and

Jacob are credited with making this system successful. They are the main points of contact

for questions posed by the inspectors and engineers regarding system use. They participate

in weekly conference calls with the developer, Bentley, troubleshooting any technical issues.

They do not just present an issue; they provide possible solutions. All three engineers have

created valuable output reports for our inspection teams to use. By utilizing InspectTech, the

Department has streamlined processes and realized a cost savings. Inspection reports are

now electronically generated and uploaded to ProjectWise. Federal reporting is optimized

and bridge inventory data is easily reviewed and queried. Bridge inspectors will be utilizing

InspectTech to record maintenance work items, and the Bureau of Highway Operations’

Bridge Maintenance unit will be able to view these needs to schedule their work

accordingly. Mei, Armin and Jacob work on continuous system improvement. They are an

example of a team of Connecticut DOT engineers, who together for the betterment of the

Department, are providing travelers through the state a safe and efficient transportation

network.

This team was nominated by Mary Baker, Transportation Principal Engineer.

The next teamwork award is for the following employees from the Bureau of Policy and

Planning: JUDY RAYMOND, Supervising Planner, MATTHEW CEGIELSKI and RYAN

DOLAN, Planner 2s, and GREGORY PACELLI and STEVEN GIANNITTI, Planner 1’s

This team is being recognized for their dedication and professional work that they exhibited in

developing the new Statewide Travel Demand Model and the implementation of the household

travel survey. The current model was a tri-based model developed on outdated software and

had limitations. Both the model and the software needed to be replaced for the Department to

meet its increasingly complex travel forecasting and air quality conformity requirements (both

federal and state) for proposed highway and transit projects. In order to meet a tight schedule,

the staff, assisted by a consultant, met biweekly to review work completed, provide feedback

and make changes to the model that were relevant to Connecticut. A major task of this project

was to gather and update specific data imperative to build and run a travel model, including

census, land use, roadway and transit route and ridership data. On that note, this team

implemented the development of a household travel survey that was accomplished this

calendar year that collected information about daily household travel activities from residents

across the state to understand how they traveled, where they went, why they traveled, and how

long it takes. The existing information was severely outdated. The new data collected was

used to update the database of household travel behavior and to forecast travel needs into the

future. This data will help the Department to prioritize transportation investments to support

the needs of communities in the future. Through a partnership with UConn and a consultant,

150,000 surveys were sent out. Both the development of the new model and survey was

completed over and above the office’s already demanding workload, and ahead of schedule.

As the Department moves forward with LET’S GO CT initiatives, a state of the art travel

demand model is critical to meet the high demands of the Department’s future endeavors.

This team was nominated by Maribeth Wojenski, (Assistant Planning Director)

ALBERTA GOODWIN, Information Technology Supervisor, MATTHEW DODGE,

Information Technology Analyst III, Jose Romero, IT Manager and SANDRA

FERRERA, Fiscal Administrative Officer.

Jose Romero, Alberta Goodwin, Matt Dodge and Sandy Ferrara were instrumental in

making digitally signed agreements a reality. An agreement process that typically takes

months can now be done in days or even a day. We had one such agreement early on

when we went live with our new signing process. It was a consultant inspection

agreement and as usual it was a rush. We were able to send it to the president of the

company, he happened to be on a cruise ship in Bermuda. He was able to digitally sign

the agreement from the ship that morning. It was sent to the Chief Engineer, he signed

that afternoon and it was executed. Jose, Alberta and Matt work tirelessly in locating a

piece of software that would meet our special needs. They met with the Agreement unit

to understand the process and crafted a solution that improved efficiency

dramatically. Sandy volunteered early on to work with our information system folks and

shepherd this new innovative solution across the finish line. She worked on making sure

this new solution would meet all of our business needs and tested this new solution

repeatedly until it worked. The Department owes all of these folks our gratitude for

moving our agreement process from one of the slowest in the country to one of the

fastest. How many States can execute an agreement in less than a day. This

personifies teamwork across the agency and provides the best possible customer service.

This was an anonymous submission.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

The next award is for Customer Service and includes a group of employees from various

units within the Bureaus of Engineering and Construction and Public Transportation.

They are: LUIS ALFONZO, ALEJANDRO BRITO, ALEXANDRA CAMPOS-

CASTILLO, JESSICA CARVAJAL, MICHAEL DISLA-SUAREZ, ASHLEY

HEREDLA, HUGO RIVERA, and ROSMERY RODRIGUEZ.

These employees are Spanish speaking engineers, and they each volunteered to assist in

public outreach activities for the multibillion dollar I-84 Viaduct Replacement project in

Hartford. Since approximately 40% of Hartford’s population is Hispanic/Latino and

16% of the city is Spanish speakers who have low English proficiency, an extensive,

community-oriented public outreach program is extremely important for the success of

the project. These engineers volunteered to assist on a project that they had previously

not been involved with, and they have done an outstanding job. They have participated

in public outreach at local parades and festivals; helped with preparing project materials

in Spanish, including newsletters and display boards, made project presentations in

Spanish and answered questions at the Department’s first all-Spanish Public Open

Planning Studio. Some of the engineers also have been interviewed on Spanish radio

and television stations. Most of the nominated employees have been with the

Department for a very short time, but they have demonstrated great passion,

professionalism and experience beyond their years in advancing the public outreach

activities for the Spanish speaking community.

This group was nominated by Richard Armstrong (Principal Engineer, Brian Natwick

(Supervising Engineer, and John Dudzinski (Transportation Engineer 3) from Highway

Design.

Our final award this morning is our Employee of the Year Award

This has been an impressive year by any account, for this nomination of

Employee of the Year but just one of a series of impressive years for him.

The nominee has fought tirelessly for the DOT needs in the implementation

of the CORE Financial system since the early 2000’s. He developed the

Invoice Log to track consultant, utility and municipal invoices. He

spearheaded new software for accessing financial information from CORE -

DOT Viewport, while we waited for CORE reporting to improve. He took on

the GASB 34 reporting, and GAAP retainage issues; coordinated the

Departments efforts with Debris Management; worked with DPS on

establishing a payment process as well as the FEMA and Homeland Security

billing for disaster costs.

In short, whenever there is a need, this individual steps up.

Despite the long hours, stress and deadlines he faces, he always

manages to keep his sense of humor. His work ethic and his passion and

concern for his staff, and DOT as a whole are inspiring.

IT IS WITH GREAT PLEASURE THAT WE RECOGNIZE

Wally Lugli as the 2016 Department of Transportation’s Employee of the

Year.