Service Assessment of Western Wildfires Shows Successes Between NWS And Partners

Read the NOAA news release here, and view the service assessment here.

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"Your Actions Tell Your Story:" NWS CFO/CAO Ted David Retires

"Ted was a key member of the NWS Senior Management Team and made significant contributions during his six years with the NWS," said Brig. Gen. D.L. Johnson, USAF (Ret.), NWS Director. "He was our lead executive in negotiations with the NWS Employees Union, and he helped establish the Financial Investment Review Committee. He improved overall financial management of NWS, assisted with developing the NWS Strategic Plan, and helped grow our budget from $642 million in FY 98 to $729 million in FY 04. One of his most significant accomplishments was initiating the NWS Cost Management Program, which helps NWS managers better understand and manage their program costs."

"Ted is, in large part, the reason our fiscal reputation is as good as it is," said Johnson.

Many NWS employees will remember David for more than his ability to work numbers. Johnson was the master of ceremonies at the luncheon where speakers both celebrated David's career and also took friendly jabs at him for always paying attention to all details and presenting a non-scientific/engineering point-of-view. The Weather Service Training Center in Kansas City, represented by Greg Mandt, Director, Office of Services, thanked David for his leadership with a plaque that read in part "Your Actions Tell Your Story."

"The last six-plus years at NOAA's National Weather Service have been great," David wrote in a note to Corporate Board members. "We have a terrific mission of critical importance to the American public. I have enjoyed the opportunity to contribute to the important work of the agency."

David has had a long career working with and for state, local, and federal government agencies. Prior to joining the NWS in 1998, he was the Deputy CFO and Acting CFO of the Department of Agriculture. Most of David's career was as a Partner with the Certified Public Accounting and Management Consulting firm of Deloitte & Touche, where for many years he served as the firm's Director of Services to State and Local Governments.

David earned one of two "2004 Director's Awards" for outstanding Graduate School Advisory Committee participation from the USDA Graduate School. In February, 2004, David received the Association of Government Accountants' (AGA) Elmer Staats Award for his significant contributions to the field of government financial management, to the AGA and to the community. In July, 2000, he received the AGA's Frank Greathouse Distinguished Leadership Award for his continued contribution in advancing government financial management.

The Davids will retire to the sunny shores of Hilton Head Island, SC, where he'll have time to perfect his golf handicap. He and his wife won't be gone fully from the Washington, DC, area–he'll serve on NASA's Financial Advisory Board and return to visit his grandchildren.

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Radar Operations Center Employees Help in Hurricane-Ravaged Florida

The Miami, FL, Weather Forecast Office (WFO) recently honored two employees from the Operational Support Facility (OSF) Radar Operations Center (ROC) in Norman, OK, for their help in repairing the lightning-damaged NEXRAD as Hurricane Frances was threatening Florida.

For their extraordinary dedication to duty and essential services to the NWS and the people of Florida during Hurricane Frances, WFO Miami Meteorologist-In-Charge Rusty Pfost awarded Terrell Ballard and Bobby Harp special service citations at the joint WFO Miami/Tropical Prediction Center map discussion on September 20, 2004.

Florida is known as the lightning capital of the world, and Miami-Dade County is no exception, said Pfost. The NWS's NEXRAD radar site in Miami-Dade County sustained two major lightning strikes this past summer, one in mid-July, and the second on August 25. The second strike damaged a large part of the hardware at the Radar Data Acquisition (RDA) site, barely two weeks after Hurricane Charley moved ashore in Charlotte County on the Gulf coast on August 13, and barely a week and half before Hurricane Frances was to move ashore in Martin County on the Atlantic coast on September 5, 2004.

After the second strike, knowing full well that Frances would threaten South Florida within days, Pfost and Electonic Systems Analyst Phil Judd called for help from the ROC. Radar specialists Terrell Ballard and Bobby Harp promptly flew to Miami. When the extent of the lightning strike damage was realized, Ballard and Harp did whatever they could to get the radar functioning before Frances made landfall. While they were successful making the radar operational, the hardware situation remained so tenuous that Ballard and Harp spent three entire nights and days at the Radar Data Acquisition (RDA) site during Frances' approach, landfall, and trip across the Florida peninsula. Their presence at the RDA site ensured a quicker return to operational status should the hardware fail and require additional spare parts, Pfost said. Thanks to their knowledge and expertise, and their continued presence throughout the storm, WFO Miami had access to the radar throughout Frances' approach, landfall, and trip across the peninsula.

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Sue Bicknese Succumbs to Cancer

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Eastern Region Gauging Interest in a 2005 Reunion in Maine

NWS Eastern Region Headquarters is gauging interest in holding an employee reunion in Maine in 2005.

More than 75 retirees and employees of Eastern Region attended the last reunion, held in June 2002, in Long Island, NY. Planners for a 2005 reunion are looking at having a clambake in Maine, most likely the weekend after Labor Day.

Jim Vollkommer, retired Meteorologist-In-Charge of the Gray/Portland, ME, Weather Forecast Office has offered to organize the clambake if there's enough interest.

People interested in attending this reunion should send an e-mail to Ann Napoli by October 18, 2004.

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Employee Milestones

• Click here to see NEW APPOINTMENTS/TRANSFERS to NWS through September 30, 2004.
• Click here to see RETIREMENTS/DEPARTURES from NWS through September 30, 2004.

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NWS Snapshots

Click here for a look at photos we've received from around the NWS.

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