Hosted by the Oregon Department of Agriculture
Holiday Inn, Portland, Oregon
September 24-28, 2007
WAS THE AGENDA FOR THIS COURSE ADEQUATE AND DID IT MEET YOUR EXPECTATION
 | Yes, this has been one of the most comprehensive with pertinent subjects that I have attended. Continue to have states present examples of cases they have worked – very helpful. |
| Exceeded expectations – some sessions more geared to my responsibilities, other topics informative and provided greater awareness. |
| Yes, great topics – great presentations, the ability to have conversations with EPA HQ folks is invaluable. |
| Many of the topics were familiar to me and reinforced what I already knew. The segments dealt with using technology were great for me. |
| Yes. |
| I really learned a lot during this course and got a lot of great ideas to take back to the office on technology and training for inspectors. PREPs are a good forum to get topics and concerns back to EPA headquarters and the regions. |
| Discussions and presentations on the container/containment regs were great. The field trip really helped put things into perspective. |
| It was adequate and met expectations. Sufficient diversity and all the speakers did a nice job of presentations. I would have liked to have additional material on implementation of the container/containment. |
| Absolutely and then some. I wish there had been more interaction with the technology portion of the program, maybe break into groups with tablets and PDAs, do an inspection to determine how this will fit our programs and gives us experience that we can use to convince upper management of the need for these in our programs |
| Very informative and worthwhile. State presentations were very good and I liked the case overviews. |
| Yes, but see below. That would have rounded it out nicely. |
| Having been out of the program for awhile attending this course was very helpful and timely for me to attend. From every presentation I have notes and follow-up action items to improve me and the pesticide programs. |
| Very informative – in the future I would like to have a PREP course for compliance supervisors/managers (the people who actually review the cases, assess the penalties, etc) to offer ideas on preparation (parts of the law to cite), out of penalties, upholding your position, etc for this type of course we could use people from OECA and regional compliance offices – state speakers would be good. |
| Yes, very well structured for the themes identified. |
| Yes, wide ranging but hit important subjects. |
| Quite good. |
| It was really good. I also really appreciated the presentations from the states. |
| An interesting/informative agenda. (Didn’t come with expectations except on container/containment residue removal compliance strategy.) |
| The agenda was great, outreach to other agencies i.e. USFWS should be a continued goal of future PREP programs. |
| Yes, I met a great bunch of people who are very knowledgeable and care about their jobs. The state presentations were nice. The field trips and host state reps were excellent. |
| Yes, this course had an adequate agenda, in fact, it exceeded my expectations. |
| I felt I benefited from the agenda and sessions that included CID, USFWS, product registration, ECRS, container/containment, AASA and maybe the roundtable discussions. I do not feel it needed to be a week long, maybe put the pertinent info in a shorter amount of time. |
| I enjoyed the variety of topics. The short state presentations were informative and entertaining. |
| Yes, the agenda topics were well-chosen. |
| The agenda was great. I learned something in every presentation and was interested in all of the sessions. It definitely exceeded my expectations. |
| Agenda – very good and relevant topics. |
| Overall course yes; needed more on container/containment. |
| This was a great course for me as a new compliance guy. I have made many new contacts and the agenda was well rounded and was well thought-out. |
| The course was great and well received. Heard many good comments from participants. The course certainly met my expectations however, would have liked even more!! This course is appropriate not only for compliance managers but other program staff as well. Field trips and state presentations were certainly highlights as always!! |
WHAT COULD THE PREP PLANNERS HAVE DONE TO MAKE THIS COURSE MORE USEFUL TO YOU?
| This was well planned and choreographed – can’t think of any better format/content. |
| I thought the format was good and ODA was a super host. I was satisfied with the course. |
| Cannot think of anything. |
| Invite a speaker from FDA-food safety training on obtaining a warrant. |
| I don’t know what it would be – great job. It will take some time to absorb all the information presented during the 5 days. As John indicated, one of the most important things that I obtained from this was the contacts made with state and EPA personnel. The importance will be to keep up the contacts and utilized their knowledge and experience. |
| I’m sure I am getting old, but I still can’t envision the strategy for measurable compliance on a national basis. I saw a lot of issues/challenges, but not much new on solutions from HQ. Missed opportunity to gather information on achieving compliance with container/containment rule. |
| I would like to see some breakout/workshops on a few of the topics, so we could have more collaboration between states/tribes/regions and headquarters. I would like to see a paperless PREP where we bring laptops/PDAs or tablets and use them for the program or at least parts of the program. Instruct people to bring business card and include business card holder sheets in notebook. |
| Suggested topic – small group discussions on management of and communication with field staff. Would be very helpful for new managers to hear how seasoned managers deal with field staff that aren’t in the office all the time. Washington State’s presentation should have been scheduled for the same day as Nancy Fitz’s presentation. Would have been a good lead-up to the field trip. |
| The field trips were great. I enjoyed the overall training. Oregon staff was excellent hosts, thank you. I believe the PREP $ are a good investment in training. |
| The building bridges part was the weakest – could’ve benefited from incorporating issues discussed at the Combo PREP involving cross-program, cross-agency investigations of inspection cases, etc. Would love to see a session focused on "war stories" and also more of a focus on conducting through investigation for an agent perspective. How about a session on how to put on inspector training workshop? |
| More discussions / less talking head presentations. John does great job at soliciting ideas from group (wrote this before last session) |
| Allow more time for roundtable discussions and have one on Tuesday or Wednesday instead of the last day. |
| Very little if anything. I very much enjoyed attending this course and would highly recommend it to others. |
| On days when we are in class all day have a couple more short breaks. |
| Discussion sessions are important – might add more time. Container-containment drafts that were emailed to participants were never reviewed/worked on…left "unaddressed" by a valuable, "captive" resource. |
| Not much! |
| I would still like to see info from states about their resources – # of inspectors/lincensees/inspections/5700#’s program activities (just ag, ag & PMP, lawn care etc.) types of enforcement actions. |
| I can’t think of anything at the moment but for now, this PREP course was so informative and has given me more confidence in my job. Great job on everything! |
| It was a good course. Maybe for fun have a "war story" type section. Perhaps an after 5PM event. |
| Perhaps a session on "compliance success stories" from states willing to share how a particular and unique program has helped their compliance efforts. (Unique programs or technical tools are included in this idea). |
| I don’t have any strong suggestions here, I think I had all of the information I needed ahead of time, know what to expect, etc. All of the field trips (work-related and not) were great. (The strict deadlines and follow-up for presentations were effective and appreciated). |
| Add "label enforcement" problems – more hands-on for bulk/tanks – states and EPA need to see "real world." |
| This course could have been done in less than a week. More roundtables for states, regions, and EPA to communicate and to address the issues discussed at this PREP and give or recommend solutions. |
| Suzanne, John, Anna and the Oregon folks were the perfects hosts. The food was very good, free internet a big plus. |
| Re: container containment would have preferred an actual walk-through inspection using the inspection form in lieu of the discussion. Think much more time could have been spent on the topic i.e. reviewing and revising the inspection forms: discussion of outreach materials, etc. Also across the board think each session needed more time for Q&A/discussion. |
IF THIS COURSE WAS TO BE HELD AGAIN IN THE FUTURE, CAN YOU SUGGEST FACULTY WHO COULD SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVE THE AGENDA?
| This was a great training session. The faculty did an excellent job in planning and running this training session. |
| No sorry – EPA folks and access to them was great. |
| Clear faculty. Council licensure/enforcement and regulators have good presenters. |
| Roundtable panel discussion between states with containment to respond to questions from states that do not. If I did not have containment rules, I would like the chance to see in detail how others have administered this rule. |
| Mark McCloskey was a passionate and knowledgeable as well as entertaining speaker. Have him speak again about container/containment if you include that topic again. |
| Not at this time. |
| If we include CID (criminal) again, would suggest Jim Lorah, Scott West was fun, but Jim comes from a FIFRA background and has done lots of inspector training in the past…excellent results. |
| Move the building bridges segment to second day or possibly the 1st day. It may encourage more/greater interaction early on in the course. |
| Dea Zimmerman, R5; Jerry Kirbach, IL; Brian Rowe, MI; David Champion, formerly with NuFarm Americas; Tim Champan, U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago; Nidhi O’Meara, R5 ORC |
| Invite a lawyer/judge type to address how some of our processes are viewed through the eyes of the court or a prosecutor’s office. |
| I don’t have suggestions for specific faculty, but these topics/perspectives might be interesting 1) attorney (State? Federal?) involved with enforcement cases/tips for what to do and what not to do; 2) panel discussion of regulated industry, although it maybe difficult to have a candid exchange. |
| More training on container containment for managers and those we supervise and train. 2nd training for lab personnel and session on labs. Possible session on the process of approving and evaluating labels, be a better understanding of why they aren’t enforceable. |
| Alabama baby! Gulf Shores. |
| Would like to see legal staff from the region/HQ talk about enforcement of referrals and the process including case review and development, burden of proof, etc. Would assist compliance managers when forwarding cases. |
ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS?
| Everything was so appropriate/interesting we could have used more time!! But of course 5 days is about as long as we can handle at one time. |
| Thanks to Nancy Fitz and Rick Colbert! Also special thanks to Janet. To John Ward-PREP Meister, thank you for all you have done to facilitate communication between EPA and states/tribes. |
| Good course! ODA was wonderful. |
| Thank you for all the effort put into a well-run program. Great hospitality including signing up for the course with Suzanne and Anna. Best of everything on retirement. |
| As always, food and ambiance were excellent. Both the Columbia/Mt. Hood trip and dinner were great. Thanks to Oregon Dept. of Ag – loved the van trip to the ocean. The trip to Western Farm Service was the perfect site for working on the container/containment regulations; wouldn’t suggest the seed cleaning facility again for this type of group. |
| Comments from the audience were not loud enough to be heard in many cases. A portable handheld microphone would help. |
| John, no doubt we will miss you. The PREP, regions and states are worse off with your departure. Please look at one sub-section performance measure and attempt to obtain national reporting capability. We all say we want this, but I don’t see much partnering with states, regions/HQ moving that way. Once container measure that is reported, nationalize for all states. Container/containment forum – opportunity to test an on-line exchange program for one area and then build on that. |
| The state/tribes presentations were very informative and enjoyable. It’s important to know what other states are doing. The field trips were great, excellent choice in relevancy to the topics here. Oregon State was very welcoming and did a wonderful job of site selection, activities, food choices, etc. related to this course. |
| I think it would help to have a combination of large group lecture and smaller break-out sessions where people can become more engaged in discussing an issue with a reporting back to the larger group. Really helps to involve everyone (particularly the roundtable discussions would have benefited from this approach). State presentations – great and very helpful. |
| Thank you for the opportunity! To attend the course. |
| Presentations have been very good, excellent. Only problem – those with old butts/bladders need to take a stretch break every 45-50 min, otherwise the systems begin complaining. Suggest going back to Davis for the food – no one does it better (variety and healthy). Portland is kind of dirty and disappointing – trip up the gorge was great, hotel staff was wonderful, very friendly and helpful. |
| As always, food was great…however, I don’t drink coffee or tea, but chocolate would’ve been nice to have available. Do a PREP on "measuring success." |
| PIRT discussion helpful because of national/regional/state process discussion. Maybe should have topics like these on future PREPs. What’s best / why for EPA/state implement x, y, z. Special kudos to state hosts. |
| I would have appreciated being informed, prior that our presentations would be provided to everyone on a CD which allows for more ready distribution/use. It makes a difference what one may or may not include. It was tough having to submit a presentation a half month before the meeting. Arrangements were very good. Lunches would not have to be so elaborate. |
| The organization and planning for the course really shows and is appreciated. The course really allows for an excessive amount of experience sharing. This has been very rewarding to me. John spoke of a website which is maintained by Purdue that was created to allow states to communicate with other states regarding issues pertaining to them. This appears to be a very under-utilized resource at the current time. This communication tool, I believe could be so valuable for each state. Could this be similar to the "slits" process. Put a question out there and get answers back. |
| Just some possible suggestions for future topics what do different states do with the following: types of vehicles used for field staff, special sampling equipment, new tech, forms used chain of custody, herbicide symptomology, report formats, case turn around time, e-labels. |
| Chairs that can be sat in for long time…need. |
| Thank you, very professional. I hope our brain storm sessions will bail to better tracking/interaction and communications. |
| I can’t say anything more than what I’ve said above. I had a great week, met some new contacts, have greater awareness of what other state program are doing, and have some new info to pass down to my inspectors. |
| I enjoyed the site-seeing field trips! |
| Good course! Great job to all! |
| I greatly enjoy and benefit from learning about what other states are doing differently and well (i.e. new or unique tools, technologies, methodologies used to achieve all their responsibilities.) |
| Following up on the measures discussion, it might be good to dig into the issue of compliance assistance vs. enforcement actions (fines, cases, etc.) and the effectiveness of reaching compliance. I love the state presentations, very interesting and it really seems to increase buy-in to the meeting and facilitates participation in all sessions. This has been an absolutely great week! Professionally, I learned a ton about compliance and enforcement. We had a great dialogue (between "formal" and "informal" sessions) about the container-containment rule and ideas about how to move forward, more information, I now have relationships with enforcement managers or senior inspectors in many states. Fun! The interaction and banter made the classroom work fun. The Tuesday and Wednesday trips were great-beautiful, interesting and more opportunity to interact with everyone. Portland is a fun place in general – and I really enjoyed evening meals and activities. I actually felt spoiled the whole week. Everyone was very nice and made me feel very welcome. Suzanne, Anna, Janet, Laurie, Rose and John (I hope I didn’t forget anyone!) went out of their way to take care of us. Great job! The food was great – in the hotel, snacks on the field trips…very nice range of food options for lunches. The only thing I wished I could have changed is for the hotel to be downtown so it would be easier to get to sites, restaurants, pubs, etc. I realize that location is less important than other factors, like meeting space, free wireless internet network availability, food, service, etc. But if you find several hotels that are similar, being walking distance to the most interesting sites could be a tie-breaker. |
| Agenda seemed to be "rushed" and "hurried" – needed more time for breaks – lunch-10 minute breaks not long enough nor 30 minute for lunch. |
| John Ward has been a great asset to the program. He will be missed!! Next year we need an endangered species course, maybe compliance again with emphasis on container/containment implementation. Also-need registration/reregistration course- this is the only avenue for registration people to discuss issues. No endangered species until real implementation time. |
| Feel strongly that compliance management courses should be held at a minimum of every other year. Would like to see sessions on fundamentals be included in all courses i.e. case development, evidence collection, preponderance of evidence, etc. Possible homework assignment could be a "case" that compliance managers process-interesting to see similarities and difference between states in determination of violation, penalties, etc. Regarding course logistics, facilities, etc, the hotel was satisfactory although the location affected limited options for participants after hours. Also, unlike Davis, there was no "meeting place" after class which affected the networking potential of this meeting. Would have liked if hospitality suite was more available/promoted throughout week, sign ups for individuals wanting to have group dinners, etc. One of the strengths of these courses is the networking opportunities, the after hours discussions of programs, issues, etc. Would like to see future courses related to container containment (2008 or early 2009); ESPP; and grant writing and cooperative grant agreements. In addition to compliance management would like to see water quality offered every other year. Highlights of this course included "working with US Fish and Wildlife Services law enforcement agents"- much better understanding of the scope of work and need to foster relationship with them at the state level. Also, compliance technology was interesting as we are looking at technology for our field staff. Finally, the roundtables provide a great opportunity for sharing, brainstorming, etc. Do think some of roundtables may have been better as small groups, for example, ideas for PIRT courses, and then have groups report out (some folks don’t like to speak in large group setting). As always, a wonderful course-for many reasons!! Looking forward to the next one!! Thank you. Dinner themes: Mardi Gras; Black tie; Sock hop. |