Public Safety Center Dedicated In Honor of John H. Baker, Jr.

Wake County officials, dignitaries and citizens celebrated the dedication and renaming of the Wake County Public Safety Center to the John H. Baker, Jr. Public Safety Center, during a ceremony on September 15, 2008. Sheriff Baker's widow, Juanita; son, John III; daughter, Jonnita and other members of the Baker family were on hand for the ceremony.

John H. Baker, Jr. served as Wake County Sheriff from 1978 to 2002, becoming the first African-American sheriff in North Carolina since the Reconstruction era.

Wake County Commissioners voted to rename the public safety center in honor of Baker, following his death in 2007.

back to the top

Wake Names Volunteer of the Year

Elmo Scoggin, a volunteer announcer at WCPE, a not-for-profit classical music radio station, has been named the 2008 Wake County Larry B. Zieverink Volunteer of the Year. Betty Moore, a devoted unpaid worker and Coordinator of the Wake County Sheriff’s Office Project Lifesaver, has been named the 2008 Wake County Government Volunteer of the Year. Scoggin and Moore accepted their awards on September 15, 2008, during the Wake County Board of Commissioners’ Volunteer Luncheon.

Scoggin and Moore, both retirees, were among 19 Commissioners’ Volunteer Awards nominees to be recognized at the event. Commissioners and County staff honored 16 individuals, two pairs and one group nominated for their hard work and dedication to Wake County.

The Volunteer of the Year winners are chosen through a competitive process. Volunteers are considered for the impact of their volunteer effort, their length of service and their dedication. Ten of the nominees captured Commissioners’ Awards, of which five garnered special recognition as N.C. Volunteer Awards winners.

back to the top

Microsoft Office Upgrades Planned

County employees and staff will be upgraded from their current versions of Microsoft Office to Microsoft Office Standard 2007 beginning this month. The upgrade will include updates for Word, Excel and PowerPoint. This rollout will be done in phases and should be completed by June 2009.

Information Services (IS) has provided questions to some of the most frequently asked questions regarding the upgrade:

Q – What applications are included in the MS Office upgrade?

A – Word / Excel / PowerPoint

Q – I use MS Access / Visio / Project etc…. will this be replaced with the upgrade?

A – No, the County will not be replacing these with the upgrade, as they are not part of the County standard. However, there is a separate initiative underway to evaluate the older MS Access versions.

Q – When will I get the upgraded software?

A – Before the upgraded software can be installed, IS must:
- Assess the PC’s to be sure the hardware is ready for MS Office and the Lotus Notes 8 upgrades.
- Contact the departments/work groups to train staff and plan the timing of the upgrade.
- Determine the versions of Access that you use and possibly work with the department to upgrade.
- Provide training as defined for employee workgroups

Q – Since IS will be installing MS Office 2007 by Departments/Workgroups how will I continue to work with others in the County and my external business partners?

A – IS has installed the MS Compatibility Package on all Wake County staff computers. This package allows you to read and work with Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents regardless of the versions.

Q – What can I do to prepare for the new software tool?

A – Purchase the Home Use Version of MS Office and begin exploring, and using at home. An Insights article will be released in early October on how to acquire MS Office 2007 for your home use. Staff members may also take the eLearning training provided to all Wake County Employees. More information on MS Office e-Learning will be available soon. County employees are also encouraged to notify external business partners of the upgrade and advise them that the MS Compatibility Package is available free of charge on the Microsoft Web site and can be installed on their PC’s to avoid a compatibility issue.

Q – I work at the Swinburne and have heard that this may be the last facility to receive the upgrade.

A – The Swinburne facility is being rewired this year. The project is currently underway, and therefore, will require that IS wait until the upgrade project is completed before the MS Office software can be put on the computers.

IS’s goal is to make the transition as seamless as possible and to keep staff informed along the way.

Please watch the coming Insights publications for future articles on:

• MS Office Home Use Program
• MS Office e-Learning

back to the top

Connecting Homeless With Services

Over 30 local nonprofit and public agencies and over 200 volunteers -- including Wake County employees -- provided direct services to individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness during the second annual Project Homeless Connect on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008. Project Homeless Connect is a one-day affair held concurrently with events in Wake, Durham and Orange counties. The Wake County event was held at Moore Square in downtown Raleigh. The program is part of Wake County's strategy to end chronic homelessness in the county.

The one-stop service event offered medical and dental care, substance-abuse counseling and job counseling. Nearly 200 people were helped with everything from HIV screenings to resume advice.

Raleigh Project Homeless Connect is sponsored by Wake County, the City of Raleigh, the Raleigh/Wake 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, Triangle United Way, the Wake Housing and Homeless Coalition and Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network.

back to the top

Employees and Families May Win Cash Prizes for Artwork

Calling all Wake County employee artists! Wake County, the City of Raleigh Arts Commission, and the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County invite all City and County employees and their immediate family members to enter the sixth annual National Arts Program® competition and exhibition. The deadline for intent-to-enter registration forms is Wednesday, November 12, 2008, at 4 p.m.

These registration forms and competition details are available online at www.wakeemployees.com and www.unitedarts.org. Completed forms for each Wake County employee and family member artwork should be returned to Sharon Brown, Community Services Outreach director, fax 919-856-6181; or to Eleanor Oakley, United Arts Council, fax 919-839-6002.

Each individual artist may submit one work only. There is no fee to enter. A jury of recognized artists will judge all works. Cash prizes will be awarded in the exhibition’s five artistic classifications: amateur, intermediate, advanced, youth ages 12-17 and youth under 12 years.

back to the top

Household Hazardous Waste Collection Increases

Wake County will offer Household Hazardous Waste Program at the North Wake and South Wake locations, every weekend in October and November. The service allows citizens to safely dispose of hazardous materials, including

• acids / bases
• automobile fluids / antifreeze
• batteries
• cooking oil / motor oil
• fire extinguishers (dry chemical)
• fluorescent light bulbs
• fuel oil / lighter fluid / kerosene
• household cleaners /chemicals
• mercury thermometers
• paints / lacquers / polishes
• pesticides / herbicides / poisons
• photographic chemicals
• solvents / thinners / wood preservatives

This is a pilot project to determine if there is enough demand for this service to warrant expanding the program outside of its current set-up of the first and third Saturday’s of each month.

• North Wake Solid Waste Management Facility
  9037 Deponie Drive [driving directions]
  Saturday 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
• South Wake Solid Waste Management Facility
  6130 Old Smithfield Road [driving directions]
  Saturday 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

For more information about Wake County Solid Waste Management, call 919-856-7400

back to the top

Enjoy the Symphony

The North Carolina Symphony is having a Spanish Music Festival! Wake County employees are invited to join the Symphony in celebrating their collaboration with the Nasher Museum of Art in their “El Greco to Velazquez” exhibit. 

The Symphony has commissioned a work by Stephen Jaffe, based on the artwork, which will include multimedia displays, and the Symphony is presenting a series of fun musical and free events as part of the celebration. For more information, go on-line to the Symphony at www.ncsymphony.org.

back to the top

Get in Gear to Volunteer for Wake County's Fall Big Sweep

Employees and residents are invited to volunteer for the 2008 Wake County Big Sweep on October 4, 2008. Volunteers will gather at 27 designated watershed sites across the county to pick up tons of litter from our streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands. 

For a list of Wake County volunteer locations, look for the “sweeping Big Sweep broom” at www.wakegov.com or visit N.C. Big Sweep’s web site at http://www.ncbigsweep.org/coord and scroll down to Wake County.

In the Fall 2007 Sweep, 538 volunteers cleaned 40 miles of shoreline at 24 Wake County watersheds, collecting 13,100 lbs. of trash and diverting 3,385 lbs. of recyclables from the landfill.

The Environmental Services Department coordinates Big Sweep countywide with numerous and diverse partners, including local municipalities. Wake County Big Sweep is a partner with the larger North Carolina Big Sweep—a statewide volunteer effort to make our watersheds litter-free, as well as the Ocean Conservancy that sponsors the annual International Coastal Cleanup in 90 countries worldwide. 

For more information, contact Wake Soil and Water Conservation District at 250-1065 or sbjones@wakegov.com.

back to the top

Harvest Celebration Raised Money, Demonstrated Many Uses for Corn

Historic Yates Mill County Park hosted the third annual Harvest Celebration on Saturday, September 20, 2008. As the last operable water-powered gristmill in Wake County, visitors were treated to both an educational experience and a journey into the past.

Costumed volunteers, representing the mill’s 19th century heyday, conducted tours of the mill and gave grinding exhibitions. Visitors were thrilled by a multitude of corn-related activities, such as cob throwing, the Cornmeal Cook-off contest, corn-shucking, corn-shuck doll making and the Corn Cob Craft display. And when visitors got hungry, they could feast on roasted corn-on-the-cob, corn dogs, barbecue sandwiches and other tasty festival treats.

As far as non-corn related activities were concerned, entertainment was provided by Mountain Aires, Possum Road, Wayne and Margaret Martin and a variety of dance and story-telling groups.

Volunteers from Yates Mill Associates non-profit group were on hand to sell stone-ground cornmeal and other merchandise. All proceeds from this event will be used to support the mill’s ongoing maintenance and operation.

back to the top

Applying for an Award?

Is the program you work for applying for an award or another form of recognition? Has your program recently received an award or recognition? Be sure to let the Public Affairs Office know, so we can share the good news with co-workers, commissioners and the media.

For more information, contact Public Affairs Manager Wil Glenn or Public Affairs Director Marshall Parrish, or e-mail Insights at Insights@wakegov.com.

back to the top