Secretary Reed (third from left) with some of the honorees

Fourteen state employees recently were honored for their ideas that resulted in over $1 million in savings last year at the annual Innovations in State Government Awards ceremony in Secretary of State Sam Reed’s office.

“With our state government facing a terrible multibillion-dollar budget deficit, we need our state employees more than ever to help find ways to save the state money,” said Reed, chairman of the Productivity Board. “The employees we honored did just that, and we appreciate their innovation and creativity, as well as their willingness to help our state.”

The Teamwork Incentive Program winner was the Department of Transportation’s Eastern Region Technology in the Field team of Robert Blegen, Jon Hansen, Darrel McCallum and Gregg Storey, who developed a digital report system that saved lots of time and travel. The group’s teamwork resulted in $422,480 in savings.

The Department of Transportation won the Agency of the Year award for saving $464,000.

Honorees for the top suggestions achieving highest savings were Melvin Weaver of the Department of Social and Health Services ($331,185), Linda Petrie of the Office of Administrative Hearings ($52,000) and Dave Frazee of the Department of Labor & Industries ($19,000).

For more info about the Teamwork Incentive Program and Employee Suggestion Program, go here .

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