News Release 461

MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
CELEBRATES ONE YEAR WITH OMBUDSMEN
Ombudsman visits more than 80 citizens and leaders in southeast Missouri

Volume 34-461

Contact: Connie Patterson

(For immediate release)

573-751-1010

JEFFERSON CITY, MO, OCT. 18, 2006 -- In just the first year since the inception of the Ombudsman Program, Missouri Department of Natural Resources' ombudsmen have made nearly 1,700 contacts with citizens, community leaders and business owners.

Jackson Bostic serves as ombudsman in the Southeast Regional Office. As of Oct. 4, Bostic had made 84 site visits in his region. When Rep. Mike Dethrow contacted the department regarding difficulties connecting an expanding daycare in Doniphan to the public water supply, Bostic helped negotiate a solution. The daycare was seeking to expand from 20 children to 40, but its drinking water well was not connected to a public water supply. Bostic met with the mayor, who offered to place a water meter at the city boundary and allow the daycare to run a waterline to the meter. This solution allowed the daycare to expand, while also providing safe drinking water to the children at the facility.

"Our business could not have grown without the ability to hook up to city water," said Happy Campers Daycare Co-Owners Amanda and DeWayne Ormsby. "Living outside the city limits, we were faced with many roadblocks and didn't know where to turn. We were very appreciative of the Ombudsman Program and wouldn't have been able to expand our business without Jackson's help."

Through the Ombudsmen Program, an ombudsman is located at each regional office, Table Rock Lake State Park and in Rolla at the department's Division of Geology and Land Survey offices. The ombudsmen operate independently from the regional offices and the department's Division of Environmental Quality and inform the regional directors and the department director of issues, concerns and problems they learn of while meeting with clients of the department.

"When I established this program in August 2005, I envisioned it as an opportunity to help to strengthen Missouri's communities while also addressing head on many of the negative myths and rumors that existed about the department," said Doyle Childers, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. "In its first year, this program has far exceeded my expectations."

Through their contacts, department ombudsmen have provided support to communities looking to make improvements to ailing infrastructure systems, business owners seeking assistance in meeting environmental standards, citizens working to address problems in their communities and a range of other issues.

"Some people initially criticized the ombudsman program, thinking it was just a job for former politicians," said Childers. "Actually, I was looking for people who were good communicators who could provide good constituent service." Only two of the department's seven ombudsmen are former elected officials.

When the department wanted to evaluate one of its new programs, the ombudsmen stepped in to help. Through initial assistance visits, the department walks permittees through their unique permit requirements and provides compliance assistance rather than conducting formal inspections. When the department conducted surveys of permittees regarding its new process, ombudsmen followed up with those surveyed to ensure the department reached everyone. Nearly 99 percent of respondents reported that they felt well served by Department of Natural Resources' staff who visited their operations as part of the initial assistance visits.

The ombudsmen, along with Childers, also have conducted town meetings across Missouri to answer questions and gain input from citizens, business leaders and city officials. Ombudsmen have held nearly 45 town meetings and met with more than 600 citizens.

"Our work is about helping people address their needs and to meet the dreams they have for their businesses and communities," said Scott Totten, chief of the Ombudsman Program. "In the process, we hope to build lasting relationships with citizens."

Bostic joined the Ombudsman Program Feb. 6. He has been with the department for more than 16 years and has spent much of that time responding to spills, leaks and other environmental emergencies. Most recently he oversaw the environmental cleanups of the Black River and Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park following the December breach of the Taum Sauk reservoir. Bostic can be reached at 573-619-1407.

More information on the ombudsman program is available at www.dnr.mo.gov/magazine/2006-fall.pdf.

For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: A photo of Bostic and a map of the region he serves is available at www.dnr.mo.gov/ombudsman.htm.