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Home My WebLink AboutFYI September 2022- Employee Newsletter o. n : 46\ • ` , ,,.- , 7 . . ''!1 ` ' i .,• .� • ,. or September 202 A ', i A. ,g16 . 1116 IF ' ' A riTHE PIPELINE ._,, , . a. w` Employee Newsletter Executive Director's Message SEPTEMBER We made it to September. While we still feel the summer heat, fall is just around the corner.The kids are back in school.Thankfully, college football is back. Go Gators! EVENTS We are in the final month of the fiscal year. As an organization, we accomplished most Yoga of the goals set forth this year. The performance measures, completed projects, 15th, 22th &29th CCUA and awards demonstrate we accomplished a lot over the past fiscal year. Board Room/5:15 PM We communicated these accomplishments in this year's Annual Report to the Board of Supervisors. All of you should be extremely proud of the progress we have cu Annual Performance c made as a team. w Evaluations cz We are quickly approaching a new fiscal year. All of you should have completed your o Due 10/04/2022 benefits enrollment by now. We will begin annual evaluations in the coming 3 weeks. As stated in prior communications, you will also begin to hear more from cc New Employee SageView regarding your retirement benefits. Trisha Norton-Finance Gissell Rodriguez-CSP I sent a memorandum to staff regarding a Retirement Plan Advisory Group. You do not Ian Larson-D&C need to understand financial planning to be a part of this group. The only requirement is that participants have a genuine vested interest in the retirement plan. You will be the voice for your colleagues. As you engage in the Advisory Group you will begin to Promotions understand the plan, markets, risks, and financial planning which will be beneficial James Byrnes long-term. I sincerely hope staff you will considering participating in this group. Water Operator Next, I want to speak to your safety and the safety of our colleagues. Please be alert and aware of your surroundings at all times, if you see something suspicious, say Joseph Dean something. Set-off alarms or call 9-1-1 to get help immediately, if you see something Field Service Tech threatening approaching you, your vehicle, the buildings, etc. Your situational awareness protects yourself and those around you. Lynn Valentin will be coordinating with all departments to ensure you all are trained in situational awareness. THE GLORY Again, I want to thankyou for all foryour hard work and dedication. I am looking GLORY IN LIVMIG ; g LIES NOT IN i forward to seeing what this next year has in store for all of us. NEVER FALLING. . - tlp BUT IN RIMING EVERY TIME VVE FALL. ' " / Thank you for doing a great job each day. 1 THE PIPELINE PAGE 1 Information Tech_ nolo De • artment / �p�v EMPLOYEE • ' ` — { SPOTLIGHT A , , .3. , '401V!,,t 6 1 1 x ■BACK TO SCHOOL!! o . . A, i / 1 44 )' ; „ ", Lisa Christian's grandsons, (�- ,a - Troy and Trent started 9 , �/ daycare and pre k liphito . Ng, , 41111iliV/: A. The IT Department has had a busy year and has taken on several significant projects to t`. .*, 1 help improve CCUA's enterprise network.The department finished a major update to the s„' ir virtual desktop system. There are several more improvements planned for the virtual I 1 desktops in the upcoming year including adding additional processing and storage capacity, increasing the graphics processing capability (for GIS and CAD), and the Marla Champion's children, deployment of the Windows 11 operating system. The IT Department also made a Emma and Ethan started significant investment into a data backup "vault" that will allow CCUA to restore critical 7th and 5th grade data in the event of a successful ransomware attack. - There are also several other ongoing significant projects. One project is an r,0 - update/upgrade for the CCUA Wi-Fi network. This project will create a corporate Wi-Fi + lr network and a true guest Wi-Fi network.The IT Department is also looking forward to the board room update project.The Request For Proposal (RFP) process will begin soon. !I, r- : ' la The IT Department also performs two other major functions which includes maintaining CCUA's existing corporate network and supporting staff through the help ` II IL A .j to desk. On the third Wednesday of every month the IT Department performs updates Dawn Green's to keep our systems running securely. The IT Department also supports the help desk granddaughters, Kenley 24/7 through the on-call schedule. and Saylor started 2nd We are looking forward to the start of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project grade and preschool. that will upgrade CCUA core business systems. This project is part of a larger effort to , , ,L. h-,} ,o - help CCUA remain efficient and effective through the expected company growth over L. ; r^ ) - the next 10-20years. This project will initiallyreplace BS&A and most of the FileMaker lA.1 • P -- _. ',) applications (timecards, billing, HR, financial, customer information system, etc.) but it `' �...;,w«--i- 1 .,, , -mo Gale..... will have ripple effects as eventually all the business systems are either integrated, I „ i upgraded, or replaced over the next 2-5 years. ,.� ) `� I also want to take a moment to recognize the 0 Industry Benchmark Data Q vigilance of the CCUA staff when it comes to Diana Strickland's grandson, email phishing. During the month of May the Macade started 5th grade. IT Department ran a phishing training Account Average Phish-prone'a 7°A, campaign as part of our KnowBe4 training ill platform. CCUA scored better than average for Last Campaign Phish-prone°o 1.7% 1 -- � the Energy and Utilities sector. The average utility has 3.4% of staff click on the phishing Industry Phish-prone°0 3.4°�° .,,� link (identified as phishing prone), while CCUA was 1.7%(10 staff members). While we wish this percentage was zero, this does show that previous training (onboarding and cybersecurity awareness) is helping CCUA to develop a culture of security. Please keep up the great work! THE PIPELINE PAGE 2 Information Technology Department Cont. As the IT Manager I am privileged to lead a very talented team that works hard to meet CCUA's technology needs. Please allow me to introduce the members of the IT Department: Dale Shoenfelt- IT Manager Dale has worked in the IT field since 1995 and has been with CCUA since 2016. Dale previously severed in the Army, where he repaired computers, radios, and satellite terminals on four continents. If you enjoy a good war story, just ask Dale about that "one time in Iraq". Dale claims that several times his aura has made computers start working when he enters the room. He enjoys working in the IT field because "there is always a new challenge". Dale enjoys riding motorcycles and spending time with his family in his free time. Some weekends you can find him at Jennings GP racetrack going 150 mph. He is also a fan of the Fallout video games. Matthew Pence - Senior Programmer - Matthew entered the IT field in 2006 as a help desk technician for CCUA and has held four positions within the IT Department over the years. Matthew is currently investing in expanding his data sciences skill set to better assist the utility. Data science identifies trends, develops forecasting models, and highlights anomalous values using statistics in J tandem with machine learning technologies. If you feel like catching a buzz you should ask s Matt about his apiary and beekeeping. He also enjoys his three dogs Marley, Toki, and I Callie. Woof! Also known as the Middleburg Man of Mystery, Matt is the most musically talented member of the IT Department who describes himself as a"a quick-witted performer with the gift of gab". Katie Trice-System Administrator Katie has been in the IT field for 10 years. Katie is known for solving problems with a smile, writing documentation with the precision of a professor, and briefly served as a professional gnome. k '' Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her husband and dog, often cycling, swimming, and • boating. She has traveled from the most Southeast point of the continental US to the most Northwest point. Katie's husband serves the in the Coast Guard and she said, "being a military to spouse has brought her quite a few great experiences". Jonelle Cramer- Network Administrator Jonelle has been with CCUA since 2018.Jonelle has been in the IT field for 15 years. She is proof that great things come in small packages. She has two pet goats named Donnie and Daisy, seriously I would not kid you about that. She also manages the software renewals for CCUA, her efforts allow staff to log in and be productive every single day. She also enjoys spending time going on adventures with her two kids. Kaleena German -Help Desk Technician w._ Kaleena is the newest member of the IT Department. She fits right in and meets every problem with a smile. She completed an associates degree in computer science last fall. She says that the legend surrounding this time she wrestled two alligators at one time is only partially false. She loves to travel '. and try new things. In her spare time, she enjoys hosting family gatherings and • n F >_ spending time with her kids, but only when they are sleeping. NI- I__ Andrew Robertson - IT Intern Andrew has been working at CCUA for over a year now and has gained valuable experience in not only IT, but now understands how technology influences the entire business. He is finishing his AA at St.Johns River State College and will transfer to UWF next fall. In his free time, Andrew enjoys going to the gym and playing video games. His long-term goal is to enter and win a strongman competition. Fun Facts • Experts estimate that 6000 new computer viruses released every month. • 80% of emails are spam mail. • Microsoft released 571 software updates in August of 2022. • The National Vulnerability Database tracks computer vulnerabilities, it has identified 194544 distinct computer vulnerabilities. • Every day there are at least 9,000 attempts to hack into CCUA's systems, and when new vulnerabilities are discovered the number of attempts can easily double. • On average,the IT Department responds to 168.7 help desk tickets every month. THE PIPELINE PAGE 3