News, trends and tips for GRU employees and their familiesFRONTLINES

Cynthia Brockington,

Customer Service

A customer called to thank Cynthia for her speedy and helpful assistance.

A customer sent a letter to Lamar and Rob’s supervisor commending them for a thorough gas-leak-repair job. He said he appreciated their competence.

September 2013

Paynes Prairie Groundbreaking a Success

Publisher: Amelia Bell, APR

Editors: Kaitlin Gwynn and Samantha Susock

Circulation: JoAnn Hutcherson

servicesuper

Help us recognize employees who have shown Super Service by nominating a coworker! Email frontlines@gru.com or call ext. 1490 with your nomination.

Lamar Crosby & Rob Duff,

Field Services

When a security issue arose in the cashier area, Jamie quickly and efficiently fixed the problem. Great TSE!

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Golfers Compete for the Cause The 14th Annual Benefit Golf Tournament

had 76 golfers hit the links to raise more

than $6,900 for our adopt-a-school Williams

Elementary.

“We had a great turnout this year and raised

much needed funds,” said Yvette Carter,

community relations coordinator and

tournament planner. “Since inception, the

tournament has allowed GRU to contribute

more than $144,000 to Williams.”

The funds raised this year will be used to

provide field trips, school supplies, uniforms

and personal assistance to those students in

need.

“We are honored to be able to assist in

providing resource to make things better for

the children in our community,” Carter said.

Help Locate Surplus ItemsFISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

GRU employees can join the effort to locate and sell surplus

materials ranging from office equipment to old generators.

GRU Purchasing established a contract with Public Surplus

that allows GRU to sell surplus items through the website

PublicSurplus.com. The site is an online government auction

system where public agencies can auction off surplus

materials to the general public.

Joann Dorval, utilities purchasing manager, said that the

website allows departments to sell surplus materials at no

cost to GRU.

“We are all looking for ways to keep our rates down.

In addition to reducing expenses, we can also help

generate a little extra revenue by selling items no longer

needed,” Dorval said.

Profits from the surplus materials go into GRU’s general

fund. Departments desiring to sell materials must get

On May 8, GRU and the City invited public officials,

environmental groups, and representatives from the Florida

Department of Environmental Protection and regional water

management districts to celebrate the groundbreaking of the

Paynes Prairie Sheetflow project.

Speakers included former Mayor Craig Lowe, U.S. Senator Rob

Bradley, Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Secretary Herschel Vinyard Jr., Executive Director of the

Suwannee River Water Management District Dr. Ann Shortelle,

State Representative Keith Perry and St. Johns River Water

Management District Director of the Division of Operations and

Land Resources Robert Christianson.

Guests toured the sheetflow site where construction is

progressing on schedule. Project partners served as tour

guides, explaining how it will accomplish both the

recycling of highly treated reclaimed water and the

reestablishment the natural sheetflow of water onto the prairie.

A Jones Edmunds engineer explains the benefits of the project to a guest.

approval from the Investment Recovery Committee. The

item can then be auctioned off on the Public Surplus

website. For more information contact Alex Corvetto, the

account coordinator, at ext. 1209 or CorvettoEA@gru.com.

The Reel-o-Matic, a cable reel winding machine, is an example of an

item GRU recently sold with Public Surplus.

Representative Perry touched on the uniquness of our

community.

“Our founding fathers always talked about posterity and the

future generations,” Perry said. “What you are doing today

with this project is for future generations.”

Jamie Dayhaw,

Facilities Maintenance

Brett Goodman, Herb Firsching, JJ

Purpura and Tony Cunningham struck a

pose before the tournament began.

Jim Severance and Lewis Walton receivied

their free golf umbrellas for registering.

John Carter’s Todd Sumner, Southwire’s Matt Street,

Shands’ Chris Dorval (JoAnn Dorval’s husband) and Jim

Frampton look like they had a great time!

Glenda Russell, Gabrielle Burch, Yvette Carter, Dorothy

Greene, Nicole Youssef and Kaitlin Gwynn all volunteered

to help make the tournament a success!

Engineering Sales’ Patrick Campbell with Hamid

Rezaei, Elizabeth Mattke and Eaton’s Rick Chapple

made a great team!

TOTAL SERVICE EXCELLENCE

FRONTLINES September 2013

When Janelle Alexander joined GRU as an IT

analyst in late 2008, she was tasked with

making meter reading routes more efficient.

Four-and-a-half years later, the Route

Sequencing team has rolled out a solution that

improves efficiency and saves money.

Meter readers are required to read or attempt

to read each customer’s meter every month.

This requires extensive scheduling and routing

procedures. Alexander said developing the

appropriate modifications to the system was

difficult because of the complex nature of

route sequencing and optimization.

In February 2012, a Route Sequencing Team

was created to tackle the long-standing

problem. The team included representatives

from both IT and the utility field service meter

reading departments. They were: Alexander,

Tracey Wynn, Patty Baham, Larry Williams,

Kenneth Lazzaro, Ken Wilder and Billy Gault.

The team developed a reporting mechanism

that could identify certain scenarios that

previously caused sequencing efforts to fail.

Once the scenarios were identified, the team

added code enhancements to the existing SAP

system. This accommodated exceptions and

processed information more accurately.

“We improved efficiency by reducing meter

reader and customer time as well as increased

safety because training will be performed more

effectively,” Alexander said. “By resolving this

situation in-house, we also have the potential

to accomplish route optimization, which could

result in over $100,000 in savings of funds that

would otherwise have gone to a third-party

vendor for an additional software solution to

meet this need,” she said.

Thor Wishart, utility field services manager,

said the team was awarded with clocks to

reflect the time they saved with labor

efficiencies.

“The team demonstrated extraordinary

resilience and determination by prevailing over

an elusive conundrum in regard to the SAP

programming,” Wishart said. “It impacts meter

route sequencing greatly.”

The new program has been in place since

February 2013. Alexander said the team has

closely monitored the system, and there have

been no reported failures.

“When you get to dig into a problem, you learn

so much,” Alexander said. “I can apply a great

deal of the problem solving skills to other

areas of my job. It’s truly been an invaluable

experience.”

The Route Sequencing Team (left to right):

Patty Baham, Tracey Wynn, Billy Gault, Ken Wilder, Janelle

Alexander and Larry Williams (Not pictured: Kenneth Lazzaro).

Route Sequencing Team Solves Long-Standing Problem

Left to right: Community Relations Intern Gabrielle Burch, Verna Jackson

Johnson and Dr. Simon Otis Johnson Sr.

Left to right: Interim Marketing and Communications Manager Magi Crawford,

Marketing and Communications Specialist, Senior Amelia Bell, actor Hill Harper,

Community Relations Coordinator Yvette Carter, Community Relations Executive

Assistant Glenda Russell, and Intern Gabrielle Burch.

Two Deserving Students Receive Scholarships from GRU COMMUNITY RELATIONS

Left to right: Community & Government Relations Director Nona Jones, recipient

Stephen Diuguid, actor Hill Harper, recipient Kyle Smyre, General Manager Bob Hunzinger,

and Infinite Energy CEO, Darin Cook.

On May 19, GRU awarded two deserving high school seniors

with scholarships to pursue degrees in engineering at the

University of Florida or Santa Fe College. The scholarships

were funded by GRU’s Brighter Tomorrow Scholarship

Program, which has helped financially disadvantaged

students in the Gainesville area since 2009.

This year’s event featured “CSI: NY” star, best-selling author

and philanthropist Hill Harper as keynote speaker. Harper

delivered an inspirational 45-minute speech about the

importance of having a firm foundation to achieve your

dreams.

Each recipient earned $4,000 toward their

education. The University of Florida’s College of

Engineering also received $4,000 to give an incoming,

deserving student.

Dr. Simon Otis Johnson Sr. and Verna Jackson Johnson,

co-founders of the Caring and Sharing Learning Charter

School, also received the Legacy Award for their long-term

investments in the community.

One of last year’s winners, Roshawn Brown, talked about his life since receiving

the scholarship. Hill Harper shares a laugh with Bob Hunzinger.