D2 wins Maintenance Crew of the Year again

The Moscow/Potlatch crew was recognized at a meeting in Boise last week as the Maintenance Crew of the Year. The award came as a surprise to foreman Bud Converse, who hadn’t known one of his teams had been nominated. (Operations Engineer Bob Schumacher can be sneaky like that.)

“I’m not sure that we did anything different from anyone else,” Converse said. “They just do good work and help out when they can.”

Historically, the crew has been top performers in District 2 and in the state, according to winter mobility scores.

They have taken the lead in the district many times, from operating the D1 paver in all foreman areas when it’s on loan, to participating on an accident-prevention team, to piloting a 5S program, and even volunteering for repair work on ID-14 and ID-13 slides. The list goes on.

Not only do they routinely help tend to sections outside their own, they also handle as many winter conversions themselves as possible—a significant benefit to the shop, whose supervisor Don Day just retired in August after 41 years of service.

And they have done it all with limited accidents and several innovations, including the infamous, and now award-winning, Bud Bar.

Their excellence on the job follows them home too, with a third of them consistently volunteering in their communities.

Some serve on Potlatch Fire and Rescue, spend time coordinating DUI-awareness events with the local high school, relocate an old train for the historical society and even represent ITD at annual parades.

Last year, the traffic services crew received the same award; it's clear that when it comes to setting standards in operations, the state can continue to look crews in D2.

Published 11-02-18