Aug. 3, 2023

MoDOT mourns loss of fallen worker

Friends, family and coworkers honored Charlie Toler at memorial services on July 31.

Toler was a senior equipment technician with the Southwest District, performing mechanical work on an oil distributor when he was killed in an incident on Route V one mile west of Mount Vernon on July 24.

Toler had over 15 years of service at MoDOT, having started as an equipment technician in March 2008. He was promoted to intermediate equipment technician in July 2010 and senior equipment technician in September 2015 when he was certified as an ASE Master Automobile Technician. Charlie was also the assistant fire chief for the town of Dadeville and held many roles within the community of Dadeville as a coach, farmer, community leader and friend.

Charlie Toler with his wife, Terron, and three children, Charleigh, Keith and Blake.

Toler is the 23rd MoDOT employee in the Southwest District lost in the line of duty since 1932. Statewide, 139 people have lost their lives. Toler leaves behind his wife, Terron, and three children, Charleigh, Keith and Blake, as well as many other family, friends and coworkers. Charlie’s father, David, is a MoDOT retiree, having worked as a senior maintenance worker for over 15 years. 

Southwest District Engineer Stacy Reese said, “The last week has been difficult, losing one of our own. Charlie’s dedication and public service to the State of Missouri and his community will be greatly missed by all. His memory will live on in the hearts of his family, friends and coworkers that he impacted during his life.”

Commission absorbs medical premium increase

No change in premiums for employees

At its Aug. 2 meeting, the Missouri Highways & Transportation Commission voted to cover the entire 2024 medical premium increase for active employees and for subscribers in the work-related disability category. This means employees' premiums will remain the same in 2024 as they are now for calendar year 2023 - for both the Preferred Provider Organization plan and the High Deductible Health Plan.

This marks the seventh consecutive year that premiums have not increased for employees.

The cost of healthcare continues to rise. In 2021, there was a loss of $1.8 million between premiums received and benefits paid. In 2022, that loss reached $11.9 million. To make up for that loss, premiums are increasing by 12% in 2024 for active employees, but that increase is being covered by MoDOT. The last time premiums increased was 2018, and that year, the Commission also covered the entire premium increase.

To assist in keeping healthcare costs down, here are some tips to minimize costs for employees and the healthcare plan:

• Get preventative screenings to catch medical issues early.
• Use in-network providers when available.
• Use cost-effective measures for care when a primary physician is not available. Using urgent care centers and LiveHealth Online are a fraction of the cost of a trip to the emergency room.
• Use MedImpact's pricing tool to find the cheapest pharmacy to fill your prescriptions.

More information regarding the 2024 calendar year plan will be available at this year's fall meetings.

$50 million allocated to improving railroad safety

On Aug. 3, Director McKenna, alongside Gov. Parson, the National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy and Federal Railroad Administrator Amit Bose, announced $50 million in General Revenue funding included in the FY2024 budget for improving railroad safety.

The priority of these funds will be to improve passive rail crossings on the three passenger rail routes operated by Amtrak. An independent report completed on the three routes yielded recommendations to address the 47 passive public rail crossings along the routes of the Southwest Chief, Missouri River Runner and Texas Eagle. 

“Railroads in Missouri serve as a vital component sustaining and growing the economy in Missouri, but there are more than 1,400 locations in Missouri where roads cross these tracks without warning lights and gates,” said Director McKenna. “This new historic level of General Revenue approved by the governor and General Assembly provides an opportunity to focus on the highest priority needs on the three railroad lines that carry passenger rail.”

Gov. Parson (left) and Director McKenna speak at the Missouri Railroad Safety Crossing Plan announcement at Central Office.

Moving forward, MoDOT will work with both the railroads and the communities who own the local roads to address the recommendations, which range from advanced warning enhancements, crossing realignment, approach grade improvements, flashing lights and gates upgrades, closures, new roadway connections and ADA sidewalk enhancements. 

“This dedicated funding is a gamechanger for the State of Missouri,” said Gov. Parson. “Hopefully this is the beginning of a path that we can continue on to do what needs to be done for these rail crossings all over state, whether they’re in smaller communities or larger communities. We have a great opportunity to make Missouri citizens much safer.”

The next study MoDOT will have completed will focus on the four railroad corridors across the state that carry freight only. Further information about this topic and funding can be found on the Missouri Railroad Safety Crossing Plan webpage.

On Aug. 2, the Missouri Highways & Transportation Commission began their meeting with a moment of silence in honor of fallen worker Charles Toler. Director McKenna also presented a tribute to Toler.

In response to public comments given to the Commission about safety approaches, Director McKenna responded to the reasons why MoDOT is so focused on safety standards. MoDOT is doing everything in its power to reduce the risk so every employee goes home safely every day. A clip of this information is available here.

McKenna shared details on the many road and bridge improvements being made in the Northwest District as well as the overall update on minor and low-volume roads across the state. He thanked the Northwest District team for their excellent work with our newly increased resources to make strides in the road and bridge conditions as part of our overall asset management approach.

Click the image above to view a short clip regarding MoDOT's current safety policies.

Director McKenna also discussed concerns within the past few years of gaining and retaining employees. Eighteen months ago, MoDOT was losing 90 or more employees per month. McKenna reported that as of Aug. 1, MoDOT welcomed 91 new employees. He thanked the General Assembly, governor and Commission for their work to help employees with raises and cost of living adjustments, which is yielding benefits.

Last week, MoDOT implemented a unique job fair with drug tests, physicals and background checks included at the events. So far, these events have proven successful. For example, MoDOT gave job offers to 50 employees last week, and this Tuesday was their first day of work. Two more rounds of these hiring events will take place throughout August.

Read the full meeting summary, which topics include: Director's Report, Northwest District Update, Rural Roads Funding and Projects, Medical Plan Funding Recommendations for Calendar Year 2024, MoDOT Proposed Fiscal Year 2025 Appropriations Requests and FY2024 Supplemental Appropriations Request.

ENGAGE 2.0 is part of MoDOT's current performance development process to continue the culture of professional development, coaching and growth. The process includes supervisors completing evaluations on employees and employees providing upward feedback on supervisors. Evaluations take place twice a year - in March and September. 

The next evaluation period will run from Sept. 1-30.

Supervisors should be holding monthly performance development conversations with team members to discuss strength and development areas. After the evaluation period in September, October is the time for supervisors to hold bi-annual debrief conversations. 

The Growth Model Placemat for Individuals or the Growth Model Placemat for Managers are tools that can be used to assist in the debrief discussions, as well as sharing employee evaluation outcomes.

July and August are good times for supervisors to review survey results from the previous quarter. Below are key things supervisors can do to help “calibrate” evaluations for the next quarter:

• Read the Evaluation Quick Reference Guide and Evaluation Click Step Guide. 
• Follow survey best practices such as: 
• Try to use the full range of the evaluation scale. 
• Remember that a rating of “3, Neutral” means a team member “meets expectations.”
• Think about the meaning of the three evaluation questions before rating a team member. 
• Look at your evaluation dashboard to see if you still agree with your past ratings.

MoDOT ended the March 2023 evaluation period with a completion rate of 99.8% for evaluations and 34.4% for upward feedback. As a department, we need to continue to work on increasing our response rate for upward feedback. Supervisors: please encourage employees to complete the upward feedback survey. This helps supervisors learn about what they are doing well and identifies areas where they can be better.

More information: ENGAGE 2.0 Resources

Questions? HRED@modot.mo.gov

As summer starts to come to an end, many of us will be returning to a much busier schedule than we have had over the past couple of months. But it is essential, no matter what time of year is your busiest, to consider your work-life balance and your well-being both at work and home.

These are some courses to review that can help you get reset on the right foot:

• How to Have a Happier Workweek.
• Balancing Work and Life as a Work-from-Home Parent.
• Sleep is Your Superpower.
• Sustainable Development and Well-Being.

When seeking ways to get your kids moving, focus on things you can do together. As the parent, you should model the behavior you want to encourage in your children. When your children see you being active, they are more likely to copy your behavior.

Here are some tips:

• Plan active outings.
• Make new routines. Take a walk every night after dinner or shoot hoops instead of watching TV.
• Encourage outdoor play with active toys like balls, jump ropes, skates, sprinklers, bubbles, chalk and squirt guns.
• Get everyone involved in active games like catch, Simon Says and charades.
• Buy inexpensive pedometers and compete to see who takes the most steps.
• Set limits on screen time. If your children enjoy video games, try ones that require movement, such as dance and fitness games. Have the entire family play the games together.

Education, public policy, enforcement, engineering and emergency response are at the core of making Missouri’s roads safer. That’s why the Southeast Coalition for Roadway Safety recently extended grant opportunities to local law enforcement agencies. 

Regional grant funding is used to cover the cost of equipment in an effort to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries on roadways.

Last month, the Southeast Coalition’s Executive Board finalized its list of grant recipients and awarded over $63,000 in equipment to support agencies throughout the 25-county region. 

“We are excited to give back to our communities and assist 42 local law enforcement agencies in driving Missouri toward zero roadway fatalities,” said Coalition representative Ashley Metelski. “These agencies are vital for emergency response in addition to enforcement.”

Equipment awarded includes flare kits, flashlights, medical trauma kits, LED traffic batons, portable breathalyzer tests, radars, rain jackets, reflective vests, tint meters and traffic cones. View grant recipients here.

On July 27, Central Office and Central District hosted their annual Bring a Child to Work Day, where children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends ages 7-15 were invited to come to work and explore their future career aspirations. More than 100 children were in attendance.

The kids started the morning with snacks received at registration, followed by a tour of various MoDOT equipment, where they also received special MoDOT hats. The children were then divided into groups, which rotated through the “I’m a Safe Rider” activity, a bridge building activity and a tour of MoDOT’s Materials Lab.

View more photos of Central Office and Central District's Bring a Child to Work Day here on Flickr.

The “I’m a Safe Rider” activity, hosted by Highway Safety & Traffic, included a poster designing contest, where the children were challenged to create a poster featuring work zone safety or the Buckle Up Phone Down message. Six winners from various age groups were chosen and received a MoDOT goodie bag.

The six winning posters from Highway Safety & Traffic's "I'm a Safe Rider" activity.

The bridge building activity, put on my MoDOT interns, allowed the kids to build a bridge out of toothpicks and candy to see whose bridge could hold the most weight.

For the final part of the day, the children were given goodie bags and were able to spend the rest of the day with their accompanying employee.

This week marks 30 years from the height of the Great Flood of 1993, when the Missouri River reached 15 feet above flood stage in Jefferson City.

This historic event caused long-term closures of multiple highways and the Jefferson City airport, the evacuation of the Renz Women's Penitentiary (which never reopened), the destruction of 100,000 homes, 15 million acres of farmland to be inundated, two towns - Rhineland and Cedar City - to be completely destroyed, an estimated $15-20 billion in damages and 50 lives to be lost.

View additional photos here.

August service anniversaries

35 Years

Bruce Harvel KC

Richard Teagarden CD

Cheryl Sprogoe SL

30 Years

Shannon Kusilek NW

Bryan Dorrel NW

Virginia Hird CD

Johnny Teegardin SW

Suresh Patel CO

Brenda Harris CO

Michael Meinkoth CO

25 Years

Joseph Hinton KC

James Whitsitt KC

Joseph Schmidt CD

Tracee Stotts SE

John Wood SE

William Politte CO

20 Years

Christopher James NE

Michael Lorigan NE

Scott Rogers KC

Christopher West KC

Dirk Honeycutt CD

James Holdmeier SL

Michael Ridings SW

Scott Claycomb SW

Kirby Woods SE

David Bishop SE

Christie Martin CO

Brianne Greenwood CO

Jonathan Nelson CO

15 Years

Brent Holtsclaw CD

Michael Elias SL

Almedin Muratovic SL

Brian Ducote SL

Kevin Keller SW

Donald Cook SE

10 Years

Morgan Millikan NW

Scott Witkowski NW

Lawrence Martin NE

Bruce Brondel CD

Tawanda Bryant SL

Arthur Stout SL

Randell Cottengim SW

Landon Bodenschatz CO

Kyle Lepage CO

5 Years

Andrew Hoza NW

Andrew James NW

Kody Lindquist NW

Carrie Dryden NE

Donna Malon KC

Lorna Stoll KC

Nicholas Pehle SL

William Adair SL

Brendan Duvall SL

Dustin Pierce CO

Laurissa Kliethermes CO

Carrie Ahart CO

In memoriam

The following active employees passed away:

Douglas K. Barnum

CO - July 10

Charles E. Toler

SW - July 24

The following retirees passed away:

Gary K. Overbey

CO – July 5

Billy K. Baber

NW – July 4

Robin L. Green

KC – July 2

Gina D. Howard

KC – July 4

Gary S. Townsend

KC – July 29

Hallock W. Reisel

SL – June 30

Curtis P. Rodery

SL – May 30

Jefre M. Suellentrop

SL – July 10

Gaytha S. Anderson

SW – July 17

Clarence D. Miller

SW – July 24

L. Darrell Thompson

SW – July 12

Joe E. Winter

SW – July 4

Robert B. Dodd

SE – June 30

George D. Graham

SE – June 30

Paul W. Smith

SE – July 25

The mission of Connections is to be a source of MoDOT news

and feature articles that connect employees statewide.

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Editor: Sr. Communications Specialist Bethany Belt

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