Inventive government programs land Gladfelter Awards

A city of Madison program that helps food-service businesses train staff members in safe food handling and a better way to manage data on state highway structures were chosen as this year’s winners of the Lloyd D. Gladfelter Awards for government efficiency.

The ideas each won awards in the competition, administered by the UW–Madison department of political science.

“These are just two examples of the creative work of Wisconsin’s public employees, work that solves problems and results in a more responsive government,” says Dennis Dresang, a political science professor who served on the selection committee.

One of the awards went to Tommye Schneider, director of environmental health and laboratories in Madison’s Department of Public Health.

Her agency developed the Safe Food Crew, a free safe-food curriculum designed for use by food businesses to train their staff in their own establishments and on their own schedules. The program, available in English and Spanish, focuses on combating food-borne illnesses.

More than 200 establishments requested program materials, and several have already achieved public recognition for their efforts. The program also helps city health officials, since establishments with well-trained workers generally score better on health inspections and require fewer inspections and re-inspections.

The other award went to four employees of the state Department of Transportation – Shiv Gupta, Dave Babler, Scot Becker, and Travis McDaniel – who were instrumental in improving a computerized system for managing highway structure inventory and inspection data on structures such as bridges, signs, retaining walls and high-mast light poles.

The Highway Structures Information System is an online application that can be used by DOT staff, contractors, consultants, legislators, citizens and the media to obtain information. Wisconsin is one of the first states to develop such an online application.

The old system resulted in many disconnected areas of information. The new system merged several databases into a centralized storehouse that enabled officials to make decisions more efficiently.

The Gladfelter Awards, named for a former Milwaukee Journal local government reporter and established through a gift from the Milwaukee Foundation Corporation to the UW Foundation, are designed to honor public employees whose suggestions for improvement or innovative government programs have the most merit.