Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at Como Park Zoo for the FM All-Employee Picnic. We’ll be meeting at Midway Pavilion starting at 11:00 a.m. Our wonderful (pork-free) barbeque will be served starting at 11:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

When you get there please check in at one of two stations where you’ll receive:

• meal tickets
• picnic prize
• raffle entry

The weather seems to be cooperating and we should have sun overlooking the food, fun and games. If you need directions, see your supervisor or district office manager.

Great Performance – Greg Ruppman, Rick Palmer and Kevin Lau

Working smarter is the name of the game. We continually need to think about better ways to do our jobs. Greg teamed with Rick and Kevin to do just that. One of the Energy Management Technicians responsibilities is to test and adjust the DDC systems that control the air handlers on campus.

This involves using a computer to test the valve and dampers operation. Normally this takes two people, one person to operate the computer and one person to verify the position of the damper or valve. Recently, Greg Ruppman thought that if you had a long cord one person could do both jobs at the same time. He asked Rick Palmer to make long cords for Kevin Lau and himself to be used for testing. Kevin Lau has started using this new long cord and reports that it is even better than doing it with two people. He was able to test valves by himself faster which will allow energy management to better service more of the DDC systems on campus.

In looking at our 3 C’s:

• Customer Focused
• Culture of Accountability
• Cost Effective

I think Greg, Rick and Kevin have knocked it out of the park on cost effective and also got a hit with culture of accountability. Thank Mr. Ruppman, Mr. Palmer and Mr. Lau for working smarter!

Keep up the good work.

Mike