April 2024 Honorees

Johnny Harris 
Johnny Harris has admirably served as a cornerstone member of a Statewide Procurement Evaluation Committee for the past five months. His unwavering work ethic, meticulous attention to detail, and steadfast dedication to the evaluation process have left an indelible mark on our team. Johnny’s selfless volunteer service has been invaluable and we are profoundly grateful for his contributions. Throughout his tenure, he graciously attended six pivotal evaluation committee meetings and devoted four full days to meticulously reviewing oral presentations from seven Offerors, each presentation lasting a substantial one hour and thirty minutes. Johnny approached each task with methodical precision, pouring his heart and soul into every aspect of the process. From the moment he was asked to join the committee, Johnny embraced the opportunity wholeheartedly, demonstrating a remarkable commitment to excellence. His keen eye for detail and unwavering dedication brought immense value to our proceedings, ensuring that the State’s procurement process was conducted with integrity and thoroughness. 

Tony Myers 
In April of 2023, DGS OES and MSP Facilities met to discuss potential energy savings projects and funding options that would pay for lighting upgrades at MSP facilities. At that meeting Tony shared his extensive knowledge of utility rebate programs. He identified that many MSP buildings would be good candidates. He described the electric utility small business incentive program rebates for lighting upgrades at eligible locations. Mark Cook from MSP identified barracks and hangars and Mark worked on the MSP side to ensure facilities were state owned and were not due to be renovated soon. Tony then scrubbed the list of facilities to identify the accounts that qualified for the utility small business incentive program. Eligible locations are state facilities in Empower Maryland service territories that have up to 100 kilowatts (Kw) monthly peak demand over a twelve-month period. The utility incentive programs cover up to 70% of the cost of qualifying upgrades to lighting. The customer portion can then be spread out over 12 or 24 monthly payments on the electric bill through a no-interest Small Business Energy Advance. Twenty facilities were identified by MSP. The facilities consisted of thirteen State Police Barracks, the State Police Headquarters campus, the Waterloo campus and two helicopter hangars. The lighting retrofits consisted of indoor, façade and parking lot lighting. Total square footage of the facilities retrofitted will be 407,261. The cost for this work would have been $810,681. With utility incentives of $581,426 and the volume discounts offered by the vendor due to multiple building installations, the actual cost to the state is $163,564, an 80% discount. As a result of the lighting replacement retrofits, MSP facilities are estimated to save 1,125,717 kWh resulting in a reduction of 786 metric tons of CO2e. With an estimated annual cost savings of $132,648, the simple payback is calculated to be 1.2 years. The replacement project installations started on 1/2/24 and are managed by Tony in conjunction with Joseph Cameron, Director of Maryland Department of State Police Facility Maintenance Division. As of 3/15/24, nine locations have been fully retrofitted including the headquarters campus. The Waterloo campus is expected to be completed next and subsequent facilities thereafter. 

Andy Pipari and Jared Cook
On January, 9, 2024, the House of Delegates (HOD) session bells were not working. The building manager, Dominic Smith contacted Andy Pipari (Regional Manager) for his assistance. Although Andy is assigned to another region, he dropped everything and went to HOD to assist Dominic in trying to figure out why the HOD bells were not working. The 2024 Session was scheduled to start the next day, and it was imperative that the session bells be repaired. It was found that the wires to the bells were cut, and the team had to feverishly do everything in their power to get the bells restored. Not only did Andy help, he also provided his knowledge of the bells to Dominic which is a true testament of his leadership. Jared Cook ( Regional Manager) also jumped in despite the fact that HOD is not in his region. Jared jumped on the scene and grabbed tools, got down on his hands and knees to help splice wires to help figure out the cause of the issue. Jared and Andy both are an excellent example of managers who go above and beyond to help others when needed. The session bells were repaired and no one would ever know, because on the day of the 2024 session, the HOD bells rang and it was time for the 2024 Legislative Session to begin its work. 

Sergeant Daryl Barrett, Sergeant Yu-Wen Cheng, and Security Officer Brenda Redding
On 3/14/2024, at approximately 1215hrs, Security Officer Brenda Redding advised that she needed a mobile unit and a medic to the 4th floor of the Treasury Building. The supervisor of the Insurance Department advised Security Officer Redding that an employee who works in her department was on the female restroom floor bleeding. The supervisor advised that the victim was 4 months pregnant. The victim advised her supervisor that her water broke, and she was in labor. Sergeant Yu-Wen Cheng and Sergeant Daryl Barrett arrived on the scene to find the victim in the female restroom stall bleeding and in pain. Medic 36 and Fire Engine 39 arrived to aid the victim. Medic 39 transported the victim to Anne Arundel County Medical Center for further treatment. Sergeant Barrett continued to follow up wit the victim not only as a member of MCP but of the Peer Support Team. The actions of Sergeants Daryl Barrett and Yu-Wen Cheng, along with Security Officer Brenda Redding represent Maryland Capitol Police’s Mission Statement to protect the safety and wellbeing of state employees and the citizens of Maryland.

Pfc. Monique Reed, Sergeant Daryl Barrett, and Sergeant Mark Ferguson
On 3/18/2024, at approximately 0718 hours, Pfc. Monique Reed was dispatched to the Annapolis Data Center. Upon arrival, she observed a black male who was a state employee wearing an orange shirt sweating profusely from the head and sitting in a chair in the front lobby. Pfc. Reed communicated to dispatch that it appeared the individual was having a seizure, in a stiff posture with both hands in a closed fist above his shoulders. Pfc. Reed made contact with the State employee by using a sternum rub on his chest. The victim was breathing at that time. At approximately 0722 hours, Sergeant Daryl Barrett and Sergeant Mark Ferguson arrived on scene. Pfc. Reed continued to try to communicate with the state employee it appeared that he had stopped breathing. At that time, Sergeant Daryl Barrett and Pfc. Reed put the state employee on the ground and began CPR on him. At this time, Sergeant Ferguson retrieved the automated external defibrillator (AED). Pfc. Reed stated to Sergeant Daryl Barrett that she was exhausted. Sergeant Daryl Barrett took over the compression while Sergeant Ferguson applied the AED to the state employee. Sergeant Daryl Barrett continued with the chest compression after the use of AED. The medic arrived on scene and transported the state employee to Anne Arundel Medical Center. Their actions represent the mission statement of Maryland Capitol Police to protect the safety and wellbeing of state employees and the citizens of Maryland.

Lakecia Dingle and Samantha Delp
Over the past 6-months, both Lakecia Dingle and Samantha Delp have been working diligently to bring DCE through the procurement process and making significant headway in the total improvement of procurement here at DCE. Sam and Lakecia process hundreds of contracts and change orders to ensure that DCE can continue to provide services to agencies throughout the state. Due to the high volume of contracts, they monitor or assist OSP in monitoring. They spend a significant amount of their day tediously working through each contract to ensure that each contract meets the Maryland legal standards. This process is time consuming as systems in place require people throughout the state to look at the contracts and approve. Regardless of the tedious process, Sam and Lakecia have been instrumental in getting contracts approved and processed in time so that projects are done on time and correctly. In addition to their normal process above, Lakecia and Sam have taken on a considerable number of extra tasks to repair past contracts for DCE. This task itself has required Lakecia and Sam to spend hours beyond working hours researching and fixing these issues. Lastly, Lakecia and Sam have taken a significant amount of time in improving DCE’s processes by updating forms and ensuring that each form in the package is filled out properly before a contract is approved. This has ensured that DCE maintains accountability to the agencies within the state and the fiduciary responsibility to the people of Maryland. This has also resulted in a better streamline process for the Project Managers that they support.