Volume 9, Issue 2

2nd Quarter FY 2013-14

Good Desk Posture: Use an adjustable chair. Adjust it so that both feet are in full contact with the floor. The support from
your feet takes pressure off your hips and lower back. Your ankles, knees, and hips should all form 90-degree angles distributing
your body weight and creating stability. Your rear should be all the way back in your chair allowing you to use the support of the
backrest, preventing you from hunching your back and will keep the natural curve in your spine. Let your arms hang freely from
your shoulders, elbows bent at 90-degree angles and resting on your armrests.

Page 2

Directors Cor ner

improve efficiencies in the
Compliance Assurance
Program (CAP). With the
retirement of our Drinking
Water Manager, we found
that it was a good opportunity
to incorporate the drinking
water compliance staff into
CAP. We are moving the
newly vacant position, as an
environmental administrator,
to the CAP program
establishing four managers in
CAP. These moves will help
diversify the teams and
increase cross-training
opportunities. In addition,
Joe Lurix, currently Program
Administrator in CAP, will be
taking on a new, much
needed role as Operations &
Programs Manager. The
CAP managers will all now
directly report to the Assistant
Director, removing one layer
of management in our org
chart and allowing Joe to
focus on his new
responsibilities of data
While we have had great
consistency, benchmarking,
success in achieving our
metrics, business plan
goals, we must always be
updates, and process
looking for ways to
improvement. These items
improve. It has been just
require a lot of time,
over a year since we
attention, and expertise and
completed our
having Joe specifically
reorganization, and we
have identified some areas dedicated to them will help
the District continue to
where we can further
improve efficiencies.
We are halfway through
the fiscal year and we
have accomplished much
in improving efficiency and
meeting our Business Plan
goals. Our Permitting
Time To Process
continues to improve and
our compliance rates are
continuing to rise. Notably,
we have significantly
reduced our backlog of
Office of General Counsel
open enforcement cases.
Our goal was a fifty
percent reduction by the
end of June 2014, and we
have already exceeded
this goal going from 326 to
155 open cases in the
second quarter! The ERP
program alone had a 40%
reduction in open cases
this quarter which
contributed significantly to
our success.

We look forward to fully

implementing these
changes and hiring our new
CAP Environmental
Administrator after the first
of the year.
In 2014 we look forward to
increased activity as
businesses continue to
recover economically. Our
expertise can only assist our
local industries grow using
sound science and Best
Management Practices to
protect our state and
continue that balance for a
healthy economy AND a
healthy environment.
We will certainly face new
challenges head on with the
very best in customer
service and Compliance
Assurance. Each and every
one of us has a role in
safeguarding our states
precious resources. Our
improvements in efficiency
can make us a model for
others.
And all the best for you and
your family for the New
Year!

-Jill

Page 3

SED hosts ERP Workshop in conjunction with South Florida Water

Management District, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
and the US Army Corps of Engineers!
The multi agency day-long workshop on October 24th
was designed to educate and assist contractors and
consultants with The Statewide Environmental
Resource Permitting (SWERP) rule that became
effective on
October 1st. The
rule will allow for
greater consistency
and regulatory
certainty amongst
the DEP and the
Water
Management Districts. A new e-permitting service
specific to the SWERP program was implemented that
will allow, for the first time, applicants to apply for ERP
permits online with the Department. This service is one
component of DEPs paperless initiative designed to increase efficiencies and cost
savings. Working with partner agencies, the SED has arranged an informative day that
should assist local stakeholders with streamlined permitting and cost savings.
Presentations covered topics such as regulatory
updates, USCOE and FDEP Coordination, State Land
leases, sea turtle lighting, mangrove trimming, wetland
determinations, and Best Management Practices.
The workshop had 117 attendees ranging from private
environmental consultants, marine industry
professionals, local government representatives, and
interested residents!
The workshop was so
successful, it may
become an annual
event!
Special thanks to
Jenny Baez and Katy
Collins for all their
hard work !

Page 4

D i s t r i c t

M e t r i c s

How the Southeast District performance is measured with our counterparts.

The improvement of
understanding is for two ends:
first, our own increase of
knowledge; secondly, to
enable us to deliver that
knowledge to others.
John Locke

The idea that the harder you

work, the better you're going
to be is just garbage. The
greatest improvement is
made by the man or woman
who works most intelligently.
Bill Bowerman

(Data compares 2012 to 2013 )

Page 5

M OV I N G
Norva Blandin
is our new
Environmental
Specialist II working
in Hazardous Waste
Norva holds a
Masters Degree in Environmental
Management from Metropolitan
University of Puerto Rico and a
Bachelor of Science degree in
Biology University of Puerto Rico
in Cayey. Norva comes with 10
years of experience in areas such
as HazMat and HazWOPER
training, OSHA 510 trainings,
NPDES permits and program
management, Water/wastewater
operators trainings, asbestos and
lead abatement inspector, project
manager in Superfund project in
Puerto Rico.

O N

U P !

Carla Thomas
has been
promoted to
Operations Analyst
II from
Administrative
Assistant I. Carla
is a Florida native
and has worked for the SED since
1986! Carla works in our Fort
Pierce office!
Ella Blackmon has been
promoted to Computer Operator II
from Computer Operator I

Jason Spanier has

joined Beaches Field
Services, Division of
Water Resource
Management in Ft.
Pierce as an
Environmental
Specialist II. Jason graduated Western
Michigan University with a Masters
Degree in Earth Science and Northern
Michigan University with a Bachelor of
Environmental Science. Previously he
was a Project Geologist for 7 years
working for an environmental consulting
and engineering firm performing a
variety of hydrogeological investigations
at UST sites.

Retired:
Jose Calas 20 Years of Service
Terry Davis 44 Years of Service

Three major events made a 1970 a pivotal year for the management of
pollution in the United States and Florida.
The first Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970. People put
pressure on Congress to get something done.
Richard Nixon formed the EPA on December 2, 1970. All the
various pollution agencies were now within a single agency.
The State of Florida Pollution Control Board hired Terry Davis on
December 4, 1970. Sampling of the sewers (aka rivers) was
finally taking place.

In the nearly 44 years Terry has been working hard for the people of
the State of Florida, there have been 10 Governors. Can you name
them all?
Claude R. Kirk, Jr., Reubin Askew, Bob Graham, Wayne Mixson,
Bob Martinez, Lawton Chiles, Buddy MacKay, Jeb Bush, Charlie Crist,
and Rick Scott

Moving On: Melissa Jauregui, Jenny Baez, Greg Whitaker

Page 6

Special Thanks to Gloria Aldama-Harmon for all her hard work Organizing & Decorating!

Page 7

SEDS ATTENDS
RIBBON-CUTTING FOR
NEW ELECTRIC
VEHICLE (EV)
CHARGING STATIONS
AT PGA NATIONAL
RESORT & SPA!

FT. LAUDERDALE INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW

RECEIVES QUICK SERVICE FROM THE SED!
The Southeast District office assisted the Ft. Lauderdale
International Boat Show - the largest Boat Show in Florida covering six locations and over 3 million square feet of space. The SED
issued a modified and extended permit within 10 days, just in time for the
show to start. The SED coordinated with the Fish and Wildlife
Commission and the Division of State Lands. The applicant was
appreciative of the SEDs hard work and the applicants consultant even
wrote to the SED extended his gratitude. Special Thanks to Kelly Egan!
MIAMI BEACHS ART BASEL PERMITS ISSUED AT LIGHTNING
SPEED! Within just one month of the event, ERP staff received an
application for the temporary docks and Benny Luedike expedited the
review process in time for the event.

Media Training

Page 8

Baxter Piccolo successfully

completed Puppy Academy at
PetSmart!
Brad Akers
coaches a PeeWee Ice
Hockey team that competed
in Detroit, then went to
Canada to watch the Ontario
Hockey League in December!

YOUNG SCIENTISTS!
The Palm Beach Regional Science and Engineering
Fair was held on December 12th. DEPs Dr. Chris
Sedlacek judged 60 of the 127 Junior and 72
Senior environmental science projects and awarded
two certificates signed by Secretary Vinyard and
our Director, Jill Creech! One project studied
filtration process to remove antibiotics given to
livestock from ground water and the junior project
looked at whats in drinking water. A formal Awards
ceremony takes place on January 7th.

Kudos from Your

Co-Workers!
Rose Blackwood would like to thank Bruce Kay
for giving her the last three years and more since the
anniversary of his performing CPR after her heart stopped
while judging the Palm Beach County Science Fair!

Katy Collins would like to thank Rich Ohnmacht

for embracing the Clean Marina Program. Every month when
he gets the renewal spreadsheet from Tallahassee, hes
coordinating with the other Programs to ensure the marinas
compliance with the clean marina program. He is taking one
step above and contacting all of these marinas he does the
renewals for and introduces himself. Hes gotten a lot of good
feedback from this and is able to assist in different freebies
to give to these marinas.

Jen Smith, Rachel Osborne, Robin Barrack and

Jason Andreotta would like to thank Indar Jagnarine
for his excellent demeanor with a challenging situation!

SED ATTENDS THE TREASURE COAST

REGIONAL PLANNING COUNCIL MEETING
AND TOUR OF BROWNFIELD
REDEVELOPMENT SITE

SED staff raised nearly

$100 for the Florida
State Employees
Charitable Campaign
with an Ice Cream and
Cake social with a
Halloween theme!

The HD King parcel 1 is being remediated for

contamination of soil with PCBs from old
transformers from a 100 year old power plant
demolished in 2008. The remediation is funded
by EPA grants and the SED approved the clean
-up plan. Parcel 1 has the highest level of
contamination of the 3 HD King parcels.
Signage at the site will include the DEP logo
promoting Brownfield Redevelopment
alongside logos for the City of Fort Pierce and
the EPA.

Page 9

G e t t i n g

t o

K n o w

Heidi Vandor
Professional Geologist II
Alma Mater: University of Western
Ontario, Bachelor of Science and,
the University of Waterloo, Master of

Science
Hobbies: On or in the ocean; in the
mountains; and time with friends.
Favorite Travel Destination: Too many
places to list: Iceland to Antarctica, to
the mountains; I like warm places too!
What famous person would you dine
with, living or dead? Dr. Roberta
Bondar

Y o u r

F e l l o w

Bahman Zangeneh
Engineering Specialist IV
Alma Mater: University of
Miami, Bachelor of Science in Architectural
Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Civil
Engineering
Hobbies: Watching sports channels
mostly soccer games, and doing some
improvements to my house
Favorite Travel Destination: Greece,
Italy and Spain
What famous person would you dine
with, living or dead? Nelson Mandela

C o - W o r k e r s :

Geoffrey Burke
Environmental Specialist II

Alma Mater: College Of

Charleston, Bachelor of Science in
Geology
Hobbies: Boating, fishing, diving,
hiking
Favorite Travel Destination: Costa
Rica, Bahamas, Colorado
What famous person would you
dine with, living or dead? Ronald
Reagan

SED HOSTS COMPLIANCE ASSURANCE

WEBINAR FOR
AIR AND SOLID WASTE PROGRAMS
The Air and Solid Waste Programs held a Webinar
on November 19th from the
SED Office. The focus of the
workshop was to provide
Compliance Assurance with
asbestos regulations. There
were 14 attendees including
private consultants,
contractors and building department personnel.
Feedback from the webinar has been positive,
especially providing training where attendees do not
have to travel. Special Thanks to Patti Tampas and
Amede Dimonnay for putting together a
comprehensive program!

SED HOSTS ERP WORKSHOP FOR REALTORS!

More than two dozen real estate professionals attended a waterfront property workshop on October 25th presented by
Irene Arpayoglou and Katy Collins at the Realtors Association of Martin County . Topics included single family home
exemptions, permitting thresholds, and mangrove regulations. Plus an overview of how to navigate the DEP website and
access tools such as Oculus and MapDirect was covered. Many questions regarding State Lands leases were asked by
participants as many of the Realtors have dealt with state lands issues when selling or buying property. This is a great
reflection of how the SED tailors presentations to our local area as Martin County contains three aquatic preserves with a
numerous leases!

Page 10

Cynthia Lott and Irene Arpayoglou were

ARRRGGGHHHH-uably the finest Pirate and
Mermaid at the Boynton Beach Pirate Fest in
October! (Susan Mason appeared as a stealth
Pirate!)

From Pirate Fest to Jelly Fish!

Irene Arpayoglous
Halloween Costume was a real
stinger but the Best Costume
Award went to Kelly Egans
Office!

SED participates in the Region 7 Joint Regional Domestic Security Task Force Quarterly Meeting!
The RDSTF meets to coordinate activities among many local government and state agencies who
would respond to any event affecting the safety and welfare of the people in Region 7 (Miami
Dade/Broward/Palm Beach.) A new emerging science is being incorporated into Disaster
Response Planning. As we all know, Social Media is a part of everyday
life, and emergency management is no exception. However, many
agencies do not have the manpower to effectively leverage the social
media space during and after a disaster. The implementation of Virtual
Operations Support Teams (VOSTs) are a relatively new concept that
provides EM agencies and teams an organized cadre of digital
volunteers that can assist in reviewing and analyzing media and social
media areas.
Virtual Operations Support (VOS) - as applied to emergency management and disaster recovery is
an effort to make use of new communication technologies and social media tools so that a team of
trusted agents can lend support via the internet to those on-site who may otherwise be
overwhelmed by the volume of data generated during a disaster.

Page 11

Town of Davie debuts new $107 million Water

Treatment and Water Reclamation Facility in Broward
County with Permitting and Compliance Assurance
from the SED! The Water Treatment Plant is a 6 mgd
reverse osmosis process expandable to 12 mgd. The
Water Reclamation Facility is 3.5 mgd membrane
bioreactor expandable to 7 mgd which will provide
irrigation reuse. The backup disposal system for the
brine and wastewater
effluent includes 2 deep
injection wells.
SED staff Environmental
Administrator Linda Brien,
Wastewater Permitting
Environmental Administrator Janice Szuflita, Permitter
Mike Bechtold, Environmental Manager,
Compliance Assurance Program Michael Hambor,
Environmental Specialist II, Compliance Assurance
Program Konstantin
Dubov key worked
closely with the facility
through the permitting
process, made
suggestions for
engineering, and provided
technical assistance in the
areas of:

Planning,
Preliminary discussions
Pre-Application discussion
Permitting
Certification of completion and Start up Assistance
Technical Assistance
Quality Control
Cross Connection
Control
Technical Assistance to
reduce operating costs
Compliance Inspection
Trouble shooting
and cost savings were
identified in the areas of operation and sampling.
FDEPs cost saving effort should help the Town save
over $100,000 each year while utilizing state of the art
technology for water treatment and
re-use.
Linda Brien, Janice Szuflita, Mike Bechtold, and
Konstantin Dubov represented the FL DEP SED at
the Open House Ceremony on November 1st!

The Treasure Coast Energy Center reported to

the SED Air Program that a treatment process
inadvertently increased the sulfur content of their
fuel oil above the 0.0015 percent limit specified
in their permit. The facility showed that the cost
of bringing the sulfur levels into compliance
would cost between $500K to $1.5M. Bringing
the fuel into compliance would require that the
fuel be transported to a facility that is allowed to
burn a higher sulfur fuel. The SED Air program
reviewed the options and suggested that the net
increase in emissions would be only 70 pounds
of sulfur dioxide and that transporting the fuel oil
to another facility would simply allow the same
emissions elsewhere. Additionally, the
transportation of the fuel would create a potential
for a spill and there would be significant
emissions from the vehicles. The SED
recommended to the Division, and the Division
concurred, that the best option environmentally
and economically is simply to let the fuel remain
at site and only be burned as necessary. The
SED advised the facility that they will be allowed
to burn up the fuel inventory on an as needed
basis. Lee Hoefert reviewed test requirements
with three operators, resulting in less costs and
emissions caused by the unnecessary
tests. The DEP also benefited not having to
review the reports associated with the tests !
The City of Boca Raton currently discharges the
industrial wastewater/potable water byproduct
(demineralization concentrate water) from the Citys
drinking water plant to the Atlantic Ocean. On December
18th, the Department issued a permit to City for the
blending of demineralization concentrate water with
reclaimed water from the Citys domestic wastewater
treatment plant. The blended water will be used for public
access irrigation and will reduce the discharge to the
Atlantic Ocean.
John Armstrong suggested a way to reduce
sampling costs for Boca Raton!
The requirements of the Florida Administrative Code
specify that the primary and secondary drinking water
standards be sampled annually in the blend and at two
upstream locations. The permit requires that the primary
and secondary drinking water standards be sampled
annually in the blend. Should a drinking water standard
not be met in the blend, the permit authorizes that that
specific parameter be sampled in the upstream locations.
This provides the city with a cost savings of
approximately $1,200 per year!

Page 12

New Biosolids Composting Facility in the

City of Homestead
On December
17th, the South
Dade Soil and
Water
Conservation
District held a
Grand Opening
and a ribbon
cutting
ceremony for
their new City
of Homestead
WWTF
Compost
Facility.
The City of
Homestead
constructed a
new Class AA
Biosolids
Solar Drying and In-Vessel Composting Facility.
They are
proud to
lead the
way for
small
municipal
wastewater
operations
to keep
biosolids
out of
landfills and turn it into a valuable
product for agriculture.
SED wastewater permitting
engineer Mike Bechtold was recognized as an integral
part in helping permit the facility and apply creative
thinking to the new facility!

Southeast District Director Swap

with Central District
Exchanging valuable information is the
cornerstone of this initiative, where District
Directors
complete one of
the District
Directors
Performance
Expectations
a two week job
rotation to
provide the opportunity for the Directors to
learn about and replicate positive
initiatives from
other Districts.
SED Director
Jill Creech was
in Orlando at the
desk of her
counterpart from
the Central District, Jeff Prather. The
District Director in Residence affords a
unique opportunity
to see the
challenges and
successes of each
district with a fresh
pair of eyes while
fostering teamwork
across districts with many overlapping
issues!

New Arrivals!
Melissa Jaureguis son Benjamin
was born November 14!
Don Keirns newest grandbaby Camden
joined his big sis Miya on October 22nd!

PPaaggee 1131

SED CAP reorganization - Continual Improvement

It has been just over one year since the Southeast
District completed our reorganization and we have
identified some areas where we can further improve
efficiencies in the Compliance Assurance Program
(CAP). With the retirement of our Drinking Water
Manager, it was a good opportunity to incorporate
the drinking water compliance staff into CAP, by
moving the vacant position to the CAP program
establishing four managers in CAP. These moves
will help diversify the teams and increase crosstraining opportunities. In addition, Joe Lurix,
currently Program Administrator in CAP, will be taking on a new much needed role as
Operations & Programs Manager. The CAP managers will all now directly report to the
Assistant Director, removing one layer of management in our org chart and allowing Joe to
focus on his new responsibilities of data consistency, benchmarking, metrics, business
plan updates, and process improvement. These items require a lot of time and attention
and having a position specifically dedicated to them will help the District continue to
improve efficiencies. We look forward to fully implementing these changes and hiring our
new CAP Environmental Administrator after the first of the year.

I T S

ALWAYS GREAT TO RECEIVE POSITIVE FEEDBACK!

SED staff receiving customer service survey compliments include: Magdalena Gierczak, M.S. Environmental Specialist did
an site inspection, provided information and tools to ensure that we could maintain compliance with EPA regulations.
She was pleasant and had a great attitude.
Michele Owens from the Southeast District office has always been extremely helpful and thorough.
The SE District is a pleasure to work with, which I could not have said over the past 25 years. I suspect finally
having a good leader has helped tremendously, but beyond that, staff is more responsive and customer friendly than ever
before. No slack, just fair and honest treatment. I hope it persists, the old us against them attitude seems gone, replaced
by how can we solve problems together. It will take a while to adapt to, but its a great change so far.
Kevin Henderson, P.E. Evergreen Engineering, Inc.

Lee Hoefert travelled to Great Britain in October!

Scott Trainor traveled to Costa Rica in November!
Joe May travelled to China in November!
Michelle Piccolo travelled to Australia in December!

S E D

W i n t e r

January 14thERP Outreach Nettles Island Property Owners

Association
January 15th Deadline for Supervisors All PeopleFirst Reviews
January 20thMartin Luther King Day
January 30thQuarterly Business Plan Update
February 5th ERP Outreach for Waterfront PropertiesRealtors
Association of Indian River County
February 5th Brownfields 101 at the Economic Council of
Okeechobee County

C a l e n d a r

February 14thValentine's Day

February 10-14th Sanitary Survey School
February 17thPresidents Day
February 18thFocus on Change Symposium
March 9thDaylight Savings Time Begins
March 17thSt. Patricks Day
March 20First Day of Spring