We judges for the Governor's State Employee and State Manager of the Year Awards read about 37 nominees, all departmental winners, who succeeded against many obstacles.
They worked in a year when the state was downsizing, when budgets were tight, when helper positions were vacant and when computerization (still fragmented in the state) was presenting both opportunity and challenge.
They all worked in a structure that contains far too many bureaucratic barriers. They worked many extra hours. They frequently recruited volunteers to help. They kept smiling. They overcame.
Pauline Fukumura won Manager of the Year for developing a state-Internal Revenue Service partnership that collected $8 million more in delinquent taxes than the previous year.
Jeffrey Larcedo won Employee of the Year for combating a threatened cost overrun at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility by organizing in-house construction of an extension for $20,000 instead of the $300,000 a private contractor might have charged.
But there were 35 other contenders, too. Our chairman of judges, retired Army Lt. Gen. Allen Ono, commented that instead of dealing with stars that flash, burn and disappear we found ourselves dealing with people who star every year.
Let me highlight just a few:
James Iha, a retired school principal, signed on with the National Guard and made its program to give youths a second chance one of the best in the nation. The Youth Challenge Program now has some 250 graduates, most of whom have moved from troubled pasts to go back to school or college, become gainfully employed or joined the military.
Jean Brosky automated the entire library collection at Ali'iolani Elementary School with help from parents and community volunteers and funds from semi-annual book fairs. Other schools now are copying. On their birthdays she goes to students' classrooms, reads a book of their choice to the class, and then puts a plaque and a picture of the child inside the book to add to the library's permanent collection.
Steve Ledward, electronics technician, sped up connections to the World Wide Web for Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaii, modernized library data connections throughout the state and saved $10,000 in the process.
Doreen Shishido standardized forms and practices to help the state's Agricultural Loan Division do more with less, be more customer friendly and yet collect $1 million from over 400 delinquent loans.
Bishop Pahia integrated help for non-profit community agencies with work assignments for prison inmates such as restoring an ancient koa canoe for the Maui Historical Society. There was pride on both sides.
Tracey Webb, a legal assistant, voluntarily lived away from home for 10 weeks to help the state prosecute the Mathison murder case on the Big Island, devised quick legal reference techniques that helped win a conviction and provided transportation, once even air fare from her own pocket, to help get key people in the right places at the right time.
Sandra Okihara found ways other departments now are copying to reduce mailing costs for the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
Virginia Okamoto conceived personnel redeployments to make the state library system more effective.
Valerie Pacheco saved $5 million by centralizing workers' compensation claim management.
Neal Wagatsuma turned corrections around on Kauai. In a key example he used donated cabins to create a mini-boot camp and prison farm at minimal cost.
People like these are true public servants.