The Board of Larimer County Commissioners today honored employees who have shown ingenuity, creativity, and improved processes at Larimer County with the 2017 Innovation Awards. A Grand Prize, one runner-up, and two Honorable Mentions were awarded in this sixth year of the Innovation Awards program. The awards were chosen based on resourceful, groundbreaking or novel approaches to providing Larimer County services to citizens.
Larimer County sets aside $5,000 for the awards. This can be given to one project or split up among projects.
Grand Prize Winner:
Community Corrections and Health Care Collaboration –Dana Hersch, Joe Ferrando, and Mason Kopp. This innovation is a collaboration of community health care professionals and community corrections staff working together to address the health care needs of the community corrections residential population to reduce the impact on the UC Health Emergency Services Department. Grand Prize award = $2,250.
Runner Up:
Vehicle Licensing Processing Center and Phone Tag- Tina Harris and Justine Evarts. Vehicle Licensing Processing Center and Phone Tag Processing Center takes back office work away from customer facing areas. Phone Tag eliminates the need for in-person transactions by offering the ability to handle a variety of transactions over the phone. Prize award = $1,750.
Innovation Awards, Honorable Mentions:
– Damage Assessment Tool, Information Technology- Royce Simpson, Christine Day, and John Clark. Multiple county departments recognized the need to collaborate and develop a tool to both collect and disseminate damage assessment data for emergencies and disasters. No known product would meet the unique needs of the county. Therefore, Information Technology Department created a multi-jurisdictional, multidepartmental tool for damage assessment. Prize Award = $500.
– NoCo Trail Report, Natural Resources- Meegan Flenniken, Travis Rollins, Teddy ParkerRenga, Drew Davis, Zach Cook, Sandy Werkmeister, and Royce Simpson. The citizens of Larimer County enjoy an extensive network of paved and natural surface trails, but getting information on trail conditions and closures is challenging, especially with so many agencies managing trails. To make this information more easily accessible, Larimer County and the City of Fort Collins partnered to create NoCo Trail Report, a web-based application that shows real-time info on trails managed by Larimer County Natural Resources, City of Fort Collins Parks and City of Fort Collins Natural Areas. Prize Award = $500.
Photo credit: Alisha Jeffers