Awards
Volunteer of the Quarter
The diverse efforts of Emergency Preparedness Committee (EPC) could not move forward without the willingness of many individuals to directly contribute their time and energy. For that reason, and to celebrate its 20th year in operation, in 2023 the EPC established a Volunteer of the Quarter program to recognize exceptional individual contributions.
2024
First Quarter - Victoria Reinhardt
Among her many significant achievements while serving on the Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Council for more than 20 years, in 2021 Ramsey County Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt arranged for the leadership of the EPC’s Underground Utilities Mapping Project Team to present on their efforts at a meeting of the state's Clean Water Council. Victoria then championed the subsequent development of a supportive policy statement by the Clean Water Council, as well as one by the Association of Minnesota Counties. In 2023, those policy statements proved critical to providing the Underground Utilities Mapping Project Team with the visibility it needed to obtain over $200,000 in funding to develop geospatial technology which will significantly improve safety conditions for all workers in the state’s underground utility community. A truly exemplary member of Minnesota county government, Commissioner Reinhardt is the EPC's Volunteer of the Quarter for the first quarter of 2024.
Second Quarter - Matt Goodman
For more than a decade, Matt Goodman has worked for the St. Louis County, Minnesota, Sheriff’s Office as a 9-1-1 GIS Specialist, and then as its GIS Principal. From this front-line viewpoint, Matt has worked diligently to expand his expertise, share his knowledge with others, and champion better ways of doing business across the state’s Emergency Services Sector. Some of his efforts have included participating in the EPC and its Critical Infrastructure Assessment Project Team for the past four years, representing the EPC on the National States Geographic Information Council’s Geospatial Preparedness Committee, serving for nine plus years on the Minnesota SECB NG9-1-1 GIS Standards Workgroup, and participating for 10 years as the GIS Representative on the MN Statewide Emergency Communications Board NG9-1-1 Committee. In addition to volunteer service with Tomnod and GISCorps, Matt is well known for his inventive use of GIS for emergency planning, including his Greenwood fire app which was featured in GovTech magazine, and his recent efforts to help his county’s residents through the release of an online emergency evacuation planning map. A truly exemplary member of Minnesota's Emergency Services Sector and GIS community, Matt Goodman is the EPC's Volunteer of the Quarter for the second quarter of 2024.
Third Quarter - Cory Richter
Over the past decade, Corrine Richter has served in a variety of positions which have significantly advanced the mission of the EPC and overall safety culture in Minnesota. Specifically,
- As a public works employee of St. Paul, championed the 2015 deployment of USNG Emergency Location Markers in Lilydale Regional Park, thereby improving emergency response times following the tragic landslide deaths of two children in that park in 2013,
- Served as Co-Chair of the work group which developed Minnesota’s 2020 Damage Assessment Data Standard,
- Co-authored the CJIS Best Practices Guide and Resources for GIS as approved by the MGAC in December 2022,
- Chaired the EPC's Minnesota Geospatial Community Resilience Volunteer group from 2021 to present, and
- Lead overall MGAC efforts as the 2021-2022 Vice Chair and 2022-2023 Chair.
A truly exemplary member of Minnesota's public works community, Cory is the EPC's Volunteer of the Quarter for the third quarter of 2024.
Fourth Quarter - Jim Klassen
Jim Klassen has been a member of the EPC since 2008. During that time, he has contributed significantly to the EPC's efforts by donating his substantial programming skills to efforts which have improved the delivery of IT services of the committee. Paramount among those efforts was his creation of usngapp.org, a free app which provides any mobile user the ability to quickly and efficiently identify their location with 33’ accuracy within a PSAP’s area of responsibility. This app which is now also being used in locations outside of Minnesota, has been credited with at least two instances of being pivotal in facilitating responses in life and death situations. A truly exemplary member of Minnesota's GIS community, Jim is the EPC's Volunteer of the Quarter for the fourth quarter of 2024.
2023
First Quarter - Randy Knippel
Randy Knippel has served on the EPC since its inception in 2003. During that time he has contributed substantially to the EPC's efforts by serving as Co-Chair for more than 10 years, developing EPC promotional materials, providing outreach lectures, serving as a liaison to ESS groups, and championing all phases of efforts to introduce use of the U.S. National Grid in Minnesota. A truly exemplary member of Minnesota's GIS community, Randy is the EPC's Volunteer of the Quarter for the first quarter of 2023.
Second Quarter - Barb Cederberg
Barb currently serves as COO of Gopher State One Call and since 2020 has chaired the EPC's Underground Utility Mapping Project Team (UUMPT). Widely recognized in the utility locating community as a nationally ground breaking effort, the UUMPT's goal is to provide on-demand, by specific location, highly accurate maps of all buried infrastructure. Barb was recently recognized by the Common Ground Alliance with the 2023 Groundbreaker Award for these efforts. A truly exemplary member of Minnesota's utility community, Barb is the EPC's Volunteer of the Quarter for the second quarter of 2023.
Third Quarter - Stacey Stark
Since 2019, University of Minnesota U-Spatial Associate Director Stacey Stark has worked diligently as Chair of the Critical Infrastructure Assessment Project Team to guide efforts which are identifying and reviewing critical infrastructure data sets of various stakeholders across Minnesota. These data sets are then processed to create "best known" structure location data, something of great value to federal, state and local responders during emergencies and disasters. A truly exemplary member of Minnesota's academic community, Stacey is the EPC's Volunteer of the Quarter for the third quarter of 2023.
Fourth Quarter - Britta Maddox
Starting in early 2022, Britta Maddox, Public Safety Data System Fire RMS Administrator for the Anoka County Fire Protection Council, spearheaded efforts to develop best practices for the use and sharing of geospatial data based on Criminal Justice Information Services sharing rules. In late 2022, Britta’s work was released by the Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Council as the CJIS Best Practices Guide and Resources for GIS in Minnesota. Going forward, this document will serve as a key resource for efforts to connect law enforcement and other CJIS-regulated data, to GIS systems for analysis and sharing. A truly exemplary member of Minnesota's Emergency Services Sector, Britta is the EPC's Volunteer of the Quarter for the fourth quarter of 2023.
Minnesota Governor's Award
In recognition of the EPC's contributions to the advancement of geospatial technology in the state of Minnesota, the EPC received the Minnesota Governor's Commendation Award at the 2010 MN LIS/GIS Conference. To date, the EPC is the only committee of the Minnesota Governor's Council on Geographic Information or Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Council to win this award.