Best Use of Existing Technology in an Innovative Way

Nominated

• Nominated: Patrick LeSesne, Systems Analyst, Assessor’s Office
• Nominated for:  Petitions Database
• Description: Assessor’s Office and the Board of Equalization (BOE) use the Petitions Database (Petitions) for listing, managing and responding to taxpayers' protests of assessed values, maintaining accurate and consistent records of petitions and appeals. The records became accessible from a common source integrated with the Assessment Administration and Appraisal databases. Rich with tools, the Petitions database allows BOE to automatically generate letters to taxpayers, schedule hearings, and document BOE decisions. Assessor's office gained tools to send documentation to petitioners, store and index documents related to each petition, track contacts with petitioners, and generate Assessor's Answers to petitions. Petitions also integrates with the Compare application created by Matt Crisler, GIS Coordinator in the Assessor's office, combining data with GIS maps, statistical graphs and tabular data about subject properties and comparable sales.
• Nominated: Michelle Strohrmann, Clerk’s Office, Court Operations Division
• Nominated for:  Word Templates/Macros
• Description: Courtroom clerks use these new Word templates to prepare up to 100 minute entries per day in the trial, commissioner, and juvenile courtrooms. The templates use macros and autotext/autocomplete to enable courtroom clerks to work more productively and efficiently every day. The toggle utility enables clerks to update the templates by a double-click of the mouse on the toggle utility icon. Clerks use newly created macro lists, flip charts, and courtroom displays to easily find the templates, macros, and autotext, both for training and live courtroom tools.
• Nominated: Lisa Powell with support from Wendy Kradenpoth, John Kwant and Susie Starrfield, Human Services
• Nominated for: SharePoint Vendor Portal for Respite Program Billings/Authorizations
• Description: Streamlined delivery of billings and authorizations to Respite vendors, providing information exclusively through SharePoint while ensuring Respite client confidentiality. Eliminated postage expense, and provided new functionality enabling vendors to track invoice processing. Previous manual process required manually burning CDs, with timing dependent on postal mail delivery, and no sure means of knowing when delivery of billings and authorizations were made and when vendor submitted invoices.
• Nominated: Parks & Recreation Department
• Nominated for: Maxicom
• Description: Maxicom is generally used to remotely control irrigation at multiple sites. Parks also uses this automated system in an innovative way – to lock and unlock restroom facilities at various locations, cutting down staff and travel time, and providing scheduling flexibility. Rather than requiring an employee start at 6:00 in the morning and end early in the day (when parks start to get busy), the Maxicom system will unlock restrooms so an employee can start later in the day, checking the restroom upon arrival. At the end of the day, the restroom will close (allowing people to exit, but not enter) and the ranger can clean and prepare the restroom for the next day.
• Nominated: Hal Hupp, Prosecutor’s Office
• Nominated for: Resource Index
• Description:  Resource Index is an internal web home page for the Prosecutor’s Office, serving as a main hub of information including links, documents, statutes, instructions and other vital resources used every day. Deputy prosecutors, legal assistants, and secretaries in the entire office use Resource Index to best serve the justice system and the citizens of Snohomish County.
• Nominated: Office of Public Defense
• Nominated for: Case Cards
• Description: Updated 35-year-old paper-based process to a fully-automated secure SharePoint site. The process involves collection of detailed information from inmates as they are brought in, evaluated for eligibility for public defense, and provided services. Thousands of historical records were entered. The Office of Public Defense works with defendants, public defenders, attorneys and courts. Each area and process was affected positively.
• Nominated: Jon Greninger, Public Works
• Nominated for: SR530 Mudslide Maps
• Description: Created maps for the SR530 Mudslide that were the basis for contract development, debris pile characterization, and in-field work verification of payables. His use of a tablet computer allowed for an agile, rapid assessment of field conditions and contractor work in very trying circumstances for all involved.
• Nominated: IT Network Engineering Team
• Nominated for: City of Stanwood Wireless Network
• Description: Rearranged and augmented wireless network for the City of Stanwood from Point to Point to Multipoint – saving over $1,200 in monthly recurring costs. Internet and network access to and from Stanwood expanded from 1MB to 1GB, increasing share drive access/Internet access/payroll system access 100-fold.