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 - Ramsey County Commissioner 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.
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.