Environmental Progress - Winter 2002

Employees of the Month

Editor's Note: Each month the Illinois EPA recognizes outstanding employees for making quality part of every job they do. Three recent honorees are listed below.

Alan Grimmett was the EOM for September 2001. Alan works for the Bureau of Air, Field Operations Section, asbestos unit. His work includes investigating, sampling, developing remedies and testifying in multiple civil and criminal asbestos enforcement cases. He was lead coordinator for annual training of asbestos inspectors and works with other groups that regulate asbestos activities, such as U.S. EPA, the Occupational Safety and Health Association, and the Illinois Department of Public Health. In addition to his other responsibilities, Alan developed a long needed tracking system for the Asbestos Unit's equipment and supplies in all nine BOA regional offices.

Hal Waggoner was the Agency's EOM for October 2001. Hal works for the Computer Support Group in the Bureau of Land. With minimal assistance from others, he established an Intranet for the Bureau used by all Bureau staff members. With input from program staff, Hal was chief architect of several complex databases such as the violation notice tracking, permits tracking, and the state sites systems used by compliance/enforcement staff, the permit staff and the remediation staffs. He developed a template for installing various software, greatly reducing the time and effort needed to distribute new computers to employees.

Brenda Jones was the EOM for November 2001. Brenda works for the Bureau of Air, Air Quality Planning Section (AQPS) where she is responsible for the secretarial needs of 30 engineers and scientists in the AQPS. This highly technical job often involves regulatory documents to be filed with the Illinois Pollution Control Board or the USEPA. She has managed to do her usual job even with two additional units added to the Planning Section. Brenda is a member of the Agency's Waste Reduction Committee and assisted with the first Agency waste audit, that involved dumping trash cans and rummaging through trash. She has been solely responsible for the IEPA clothing sales effort whose profits help the Employee Fund offset the cost of the annual Agency holiday party, from selection through ordering and shipping.