Judy Fivecoat has been with the Parking & Transportation Department for 7 years. Judy’s current position is “Revenue & Inventory Control.” She has been awarded the “Spot Award” in the area of “Initiative & Stewardship” for her problem-solving during a mechanical failure of a vital piece of equipment.
During a “coin counting” session, the sole coin counter in the cash room started to have mechanical problems and the low battery light started flashing. Even though Judy would charge the battery, the machine would quit shortly after it was turned on. Also, despite a repairman being called on-site, the problem still remained due to the fact that the machine was so old and out-of-date that they no longer created parts for it.
Since there was nothing the repairman could do, Judy took the initiative and started thinking up a solution to fix the old machine rather than buy a whole new one. She came up with the idea of creating a new battery for the machine since that seemed to be the problem. Teaming up with the Maintenance department, Judy informed them of what she had to work with and what was needed. With the support and assistance of Maintenance and after consulting many establishments, they found a place that would create them the new battery. Judy received her battery and began charging it over the weekend. With fingers crossed, that Monday she inserted the battery and turned on the machine. Her idea had worked! The machine ran perfectly with the new battery.
Earlier in the year, Judy had been researching for a new coin counter to replace the old, outdated one. Many of these coin counters cost on average around $7,000. Thanks to Judy’s problem-solving thinking and initiative, the cost to fix the current coin counter amounted to only $21.95, saving the department thousands of dollars.