|
Number of overdue inspections of facilities that generate large amounts of hazardous waste: 77.
Number of overdue personnel evaluations: 300.
Backlog of wetlands permit applications: 5,700.
These are the types of numbers at the heart of MDEStat, MDE’s management oversight and accountability system. MDEStat identifies issues and works to improve the Department’s effectiveness and efficiency through intensive, transparent, systematic, data-driven oversight.
And now, MDEStat is celebrating five years of getting results.
The backlog of hazardous waste inspections? That was eliminated in little more than a year. The Department caught up on its personnel evaluations in two years, and the wetlands permit application backlog was wiped clean in 15 months. These are just some of the improvements that MDEStat helped make possible.
MDEStat was established in 2007, modeled after Baltimore's CitiStat Program. The centerpiece of MDEStat is its weekly Monday-morning meeting, where MDE's senior managers and staff appear before a panel of executives and others. At these meetings, performance data is reviewed, problems are addressed and decisions are made. These meetings provide MDE managers with the opportunity to step back from the day-to-day demands on their time to reflect on successes and challenges and identify opportunities for improvement. Managers are held accountable for progress.
MDEStat guides progress in permitting, regulatory oversight and compliance, efficient use of resources, agency management and environmental stewardship.
The backlog of personnel evaluations was eliminated in 2010, after MDEStat began tracking the number overdue by administration. Through continued tracking, overdue evaluations have been kept to a minimum. MDEStat also played a key role in managing the Department’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. MDEStat tracked all the applicable deadlines for project selection and initiation and made sure that all required reports were submitted accurately and on time.
MDEStat also tracks performance in permitting and compliance activities. The program directed improvements in the system managing inspections of large quantity hazardous waste generators -- which include manufacturers, printers and chemical plants -- to ensure that no facilities remain uninspected for more than five years.
MDEStat tracked the wetlands program’s efforts to reduce its backlog of permit applications reduction efforts and provided a forum for discussing strategies to increase the pace. There are now new processing standards for wetlands applications which, along with a new tracking database, should prevent these issues from recurring.
More than 240 MDEStat meetings were held in the program’s first five years. As part of MDE's commitment to transparency, the meetings are open to the public and data from the meetings is available online.
The MDEStat office publishes the Department’s Annual Enforcement and Compliance Report. MDEStat is also working to identify other data sets that can be shared directly with the public through the internet.
MDE’s commitment to efficiency and excellence and MDEStat's success were recognized in 2009 with an Innovation Awardfrom the Environmental Council of the States, a national organization of state environmental agencies.
Suggestions on issues that MDEStat should look into are welcomed and can be offered anonymously if desired. Suggestions can be sent to Sue Battle-McDonald, MDEStat Director, at 410-537-4111, Sue.Battle-McDonald@maryland.gov or by postal mail at 1800 Washington Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21230.
Limited visitor space is available for MDEStat meetings. To arrange to attend, contact the MDEStat Coordinator Kathi Russell-Lipman at 410-537-3464 or Kathi.Lipman@maryland.gov.
|
