Twelve years of progressive project management and supervisory experience in the area of Environmental Resources Management in the 3rd largest County in Florida.
Knowledgeable of Federal, State and local environmental regulations, among others sustainability, contamination reduction, illegal dumping, ecosystem monitoring and preservation.
Knowledgeable and OSHA trained as a Site Supervisor in Confined Spaces, HAZWOPER and Environmental Site Assessment Phase I, II & III. Projects involved among others, finding and correcting illicit connections to stormwater systems, bodies of water, illegal dumping sites, accidental spills, bacteria sampling, and enforcement.
Field activities including: water quality monitoring, sampling procedures, programming and use of field equipment (automatic water samplers, flow-meters, rain gauges, data-loggers, computers, Hydrolabs, etc.) all following approved FDEP QA / QC guidelines. Canal sampling for Biomonitoring analysis as per NPDES protocol.
Key person in the Development and Compliance to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) for Miami-Dade County and its Municipalities. In charge of all Biological and IT aspects of the Program. Liaison in the fine-tuning of the County’s Stormwater Utility to make it more efficient and to align it with the NPDES, saving hundreds of Man/Hr. in both programs.
Spearheaded the initiative to stencil on storm drains the message “Do Not Pollute, Drains to ______ (River / Bay / Ocean)” engaging the help of Cub Scouts, Middle School students, Neighborhoods, etc. Designed environmental awareness and educational material for public distribution.
Developed the questions for the Water Management Station at the Tri-County Envirothon competition.
MANAGEMENT:
Strategic Planning, Budgeting, Executive Negotiations, Multimedia Presentations and Training.
Coordinated and supervised an effective team of Engineers, Biologists, and Field Inspectors. Organized and participated in Charrettes and multi-disciplinary task forces.
Identified, proposed and supervised several hundred thousand dollars' worth of projects funded with State grant monies like the Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Program. Projects mostly associated with restoring South Florida's creeks and canals.
Instrumental in the implementation and expansion of a (County) Department’s Recycling Program (paper, acetates, 35 mm film containers, ink cartridges, plastic, aluminum, etc.).
Performed data acquisition, analysis, interpretation, modeling, and reporting.
Helped train new Inspectors on Section's technical issues, activities, programs and field procedures.
Gave lectures on behalf of the Department to community groups, colleges and universities.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:
Data gathering and analysis using various databases, statistical and modeling software. Technical and report writing.
Developed Databases to keep track and analyze data of various Division programs. Summarized and created data graphs including hyetographs and pollutographs of various rain events for the NPDES program.
Supervised the inter division activities to revamp the Stormwater Outfall Database.
Created the Gantt Chart to coordinate the County's (Incorporated and Unincorporated) NPDES program (340+ line items). Chart was created in Microsoft Project Manager.
Gathered the information to put together the NPDES Annual Report for EPA and FDEP. Originally it was in hard copy (about 20 3" 3-ring folders) in triplicate. Eventually designed a way to get and convert all the information to digital format and put it all in a CD; saving over 50,000 pieces of paper and more than 1,500 man/hours per year.
MAYOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Challenged with the need to produce local rain and weather data for the NPDES program, spearheaded a project to purchase and install $75,000 worth of weather-measuring equipment in 14 stations throughout the County. Also created database for the weather data (14,438 data points daily). These data were instrumental for other programs and projects inside and outside the Department.
Commended by the Department for the coordination and establishment of an ongoing program to produce and mail out –twice a year– a brochure to County resident –over 400,000 households– with important information on the CRS, hurricanes, flooding and flood insurance.
Reduced by 80% the amount of time engineers needed to search and review permits and files after implementing the digitizing of hundreds of paper files to electronic format in two Sections of a County Department. This project was the pilot to document digitizing in the rest of the Department.
Successfully negotiated and managed an inter-agency (County-City-Railroad Co.) project to dredge excess sediment material accumulated under the railroad trestle at a local creek. The sediment was obstructing the natural flow of the creek degrading water quality and ecosystem. The bottom profile and natural flow were restored and after 6 months, the water quality and ecosystem of the creek improved noticeably. Convinced the railroad company to absorb the cost of the project saving thousands of Tax Dollars to the City and County.