July Honorees

Tim Case, Chief of Construction, presented Tricia with her certificate at the July all-hands in Baltimore.

Since the beginning of time – well, not quite that long – verbal instructions to change construction work have been given to contractors with a promise to pay later. This process was deemed unavoidable, since massive amounts of equipment and manpower costs could be incurred if immediate decisions were not provided.

That changed in 2016. Contractors successfully lobbied for a new law requiring a signed Change Order for construction contracts – in hand, on the spot – when changes to the work were unavoidable.

High level meetings were conducted; task forces were convened and dissolved; and then it came time to implement. Enter Tricia Collins. As the Change Order Coordinator for the Office of Facility Planning’s Construction Division for 20 years, Tricia was tasked with putting the decisions that were reached into practice.

In a few short months, procedures had to be developed, new forms had to be generated, mass notifications had to be sent out, and every signed Change Order leaving DGS had to be checked and rechecked so that they were as close to perfect as was humanly possible.

Throughout this process, which continues today, Tricia is at Ground Zero for DGS. On a daily basis, she makes sure that we are in compliance, are prioritizing the most immediate issues, and are issuing immediate Change Orders to keep the current workload of 150 projects valued at $400 million moving.

Sgt. Lewis was presented with his Caught DGS certificate at the July all-hands meeting in Annapolis.

Sgt. Dave Lewis was a police officer with the Morgan University Police Department for seven years before he joined the Maryland Capitol Police Department in November 2014. In less than two years (August 2016), he was promoted to sergeant because of his dedication, work ethic and skills.

MCP has had an influx of new employees in recent months, particularly police officers. The first order of business is field training for the new officers and Sergeant Lewis was appointed to supervise the program. He has overseen the training of multiple back-to-back groups of the newly-hired personnel and has ensured that all the requirements of MPTC (Maryland Police Training Commission) have been met. As a result, a highly qualified group of new officers have come out of the program.

Another assignment Sgt. Lewis recently undertook with great success was a special assignment to make drivers aware of the high volume of pedestrian traffic in the crosswalks and roadways around the State House complex in Annapolis, over which MCP has jurisdiction. There had been two pedestrian accidents along College Avenue, and Sgt. Lewis was assigned the task of forming a special assignment team to enforce Maryland traffic laws in the area where the accidents occurred.

He and his team conducted enforcement efforts that included using plain clothes officers acting as pedestrians. During the first four days of operation, the special assignment team issued 53 state citations, 29 written warnings and four equipment repair orders for various violations, thus making the roads and crosswalks around the State House complex safer for all users.

Amy was at the all-hands meeting in Annapolis when she was happily surprised to be “Caught DGS ing.”

Amy Mahoney, an administrative aide with Annapolis FOM, has worked for the state for over 30 years. She has a deep knowledge of the Annapolis buildings, and there is little that she has not seen or heard regarding FOM issues. She is well-known throughout the complex for her professionalism.

Amy works closely with every person in Annapolis FOM, including the superintendent and assistant superintendent. She is responsible for work orders and weekly reports, as well as for receiving and distributing the multitude of calls for assistance that Maintenance receives every day. She does all of this in a calm and pleasant manner.

Masoud received his certificate from Energy Director Barry Powell (2nd left).

Masoud Roomi is an Energy Engineer/Project Manager in the Energy Office who quietly goes about getting his work done with pride. He works exceptionally hard to develop and complete energy performance contracts by maximizing communications and collaboration between the energy service company, the client agency and DGS management.

Masoud recently volunteered to work on the new energy performance contract solicitation by meticulously revising and editing the old solicitation.This is important because it closes some of the loop holes in the previous solicitation, and the new version will improve the quality of future energy performance contracts.

Currently, Masoud is working on behalf of the Maryland Department of Agriculture and Maryland State Police to improve their measurement and verification processes. He also just received a go-ahead from the State Treasurer’s office to move forward with another DGS-managed EPC, the Thomas B. Finan Center in Cumberland.