Environmental Progress - Summer 1998

Employees of the Month

Editor's note: Each month, the Illinois EPA recognizes outstanding employees for efforts to make quality part of every job they do. Below are three Agency-wide Employees of the Month for the most recent quarter. Congratulations to all of them for a quality job well done!

Christy Trutter, Bureau of Water, was named the Agency's Employee of the Month for December. She was selected for widespread outreach activities, serving as Bureau coordinator on the Agency's environmental education committee and heading the Bureau's education committee; serving on the Illinois River Category Education Team, the Conservation Education Advisory Board, and a host of other Agency and community centered events. Each year she trains 12 Governor's Environmental Corps interns to present Junior GEC environmental activities to more than 600 youths attending area summer camps. Recently, she earned a state elementary teaching certificate and, at the invitation of the Regional Board of Education, presented a workshop for teachers to further their environmental awareness.

Stephen M. Poole, Division of Laboratories, was selected Employee of the Month for January. Poole is supervisor in the Champaign Technicon Unit, and was honored for achievements that included revising the performance evaluation objectives for his group, incorporating suggestions from each member of the group, and a use of Total Quality Management whenever possible. He was also recognized for ongoing upgrading of his skills, keeping current with new software and instrumentation equipment resulting in savings of time and money, and for his skill as a supervisor.

Thomas Walters, Legislative Liaison, was the Agency's Employee of the Month for February. His selection recognized his broad working knowledge of the entire Agency and his consistent professionalism in dealing with the governor's office, the General Assembly, and various legislative staffs as well as organizations associated with the legislative process. In a position that often has little relationship to traditional work day schedules, Walters often works into the early morning hours at the state Capitol, coordinating and providing testimony before legislative committees, developing Agency positions on bills, and working for Agency-supported, environment-oriented legislation.