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Home » About Norwich » SGS Today »
News Article
Sammamish employees Lisa Werre, Mona Davis, and Dawn Flores (left to right) assist a customer submitting a permit application [photo courtesy of Dawn Flores].
Building the Right Future with
an MCE Degree
by Amy Partridge, correspondent
© July 10, 2009 Norwich University Office of Communications
Dawn Flores is popular among builders and homeowners in Sammamish, Wash. Flores, a plans examiner for the Seattle suburb and a student in Norwich University's Master of Civil Engineering (MCE) program, is the mastermind behind the city's new "over-the-counter" permitting process.
Thanks to Flores and her team, the city can now issue building permits for 22 types of small home improvements in about an hour. Residents seeking a permit simply make an appointment with the building department and meet with Flores to determine approval.
"We review the plans at the counter, take 15 minutes or so for any issues — I might have to talk to a project's architect, for example — and then I can approve the plans and our permit technician can draw up the permit on the spot," said Flores.
Before revamping the permitting process, plans could linger on the shelves for more than a month, and residents waited at least two weeks to receive a building permit.
"Having seven or eight shelves full of building plans to review meant we couldn't keep up to our schedule," said Flores.
That occasional backlog was part of the impetus for the over-the-counter process, which Flores developed as her Master Employee Project — a merit-based project available to city employees at the top of their pay grades.
Sammamish issued 513 building permits in 2008 using the over-the-counter process, a time and resource saver that has led permit-seekers, such as Seattle-based architect Stefan Wynn, to "view the building planning department as a resource and not a hindrance."
According to Kamuron Gurol, Sammamish's director of community development, a key ingredient to Flores' success is her focus on customer satisfaction.
"Dawn is one of our most valuable employees. She has the respect of our customers and her peers, and she consistently delivers on her commitments," said Gurol. "She proposed, organized, and completed the over-the-counter process on time, and within budget."
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“I knew that gaining additional structural engineering experience would help the city, and when I got encouragement from my supervisor, I knew it wasn't just foolish thinking.”
— Dawn Flores |
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Flores' work helped earn Sammamish a 2009 Smart Communities award, which is given annually by Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire to cities for their efforts to create "livable communities," — those which provide and promote civic engagement and a sense of place to its citizens. Flores and Sammamish Mayor Don Gerend received the award at the Association of Washington Cities' annual conference on June 25 in Spokane, Wash.
The awards breakfast was exciting, said Flores, who credits the honor to "the great group of people who worked on the over-the-counter project."
"The team and the system we have here in Sammamish allowed me to break outside the box and really encouraged the development of this project," she said.
A desire to break out of the box is also what led Flores to enroll in Norwich's MCE program, which she will complete in June 2011. After spending 25 years in the construction and building industry, Flores decided she "wanted to go further than just being a plans examiner."
Though she initially had doubts about going back to school, they were calmed by the support she received from her supervisors and peers.
"I knew that gaining additional structural engineering experience would help the city, and when I got encouragement from my supervisor, I knew it wasn't just foolish thinking," said Flores.
Commuting to either of Washington's local universities was out of the question for Flores, who has a teenage daughter, so she explored distance learning and found that Norwich's MCE program appeared to be custom made for her.
Her background makes her a good fit for the MCE program, said Tom Descoteaux, the program's director. "Our typical student tends to be older, and with a 'non-traditional' undergraduate background, meaning they don't have a degree in civil engineering but one from a closely related field, like construction management," he said.
Flores' post-degree ambitions also align with those of many Norwich students. "Many of our MCE grads stay with their existing firms in the hope that the glass ceiling that they had hit will be shattered by their new degree and skills," said Descoteaux.
For Flores, that means creating her own new position in Sammamish as a structural plans examiner. The city has a new master plan in the works that includes commercial structures such as mixed-use projects and retail and office development, where Flores believes her new structural skills will come in handy.
Whatever happens, Flores feels her MCE degree will play a big role in her future.
"Norwich has opened up a new world to me because of the students it attracts: diversified successful professionals who desire to better themselves," said Flores.
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Norwich University - School of Graduate Studies
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