I'm back, let the questions begin.

[InsideWDFW]

Hello all,

Some of you may remember me from a few years ago.  I answered a few questions on the inner workings of WDFW, especially regarding the drawing system.  After some pressure from higher-ups I stopped posting for fear of losing my job.  Now that I'm no longer working for WDFW, I don't have to worry anymore.  I forgot about this place until I found a post through Google.  I figure while I'm unemployed, I'd kill time by hanging around here answering any questions I can.  While I'm not a big fan of the people I worked with, I did love my job.  Though I will only answer questions that could be answered if you asked WDFW directly or filled a public disclosure request.  I'm sure I'm not going to make any friends in the Agency, and don't want to hang-out in court.

I started with the Agency in July 2007 working in the WDFW Licensing unit stuffing internet sold licenses and mailing them.  I worked my up to tech support for dealers and working with the technical group that handles the WILD system and the actual draw system.  I then moved to the Wildlife Program and worked as one of two Customer Service Specialists.

While a CSS doesn't sound like an important job, I had to know the answers to questions I got while answering (360) 902-2515, if you e-mailed the Wildlife Program (wildthing@dfw.wa.gov) you received a response from me.  What you guys will probably be most interested in was that I was the coordinator for the permits/processing of Game Farms, Migratory Bird permits, Wildlife publications, and Special Hunt drawings.

For Special hunt drawings I was in charge of pulling the raw drawing data from the WILD system, parsing the data (it came in a text file with each entry looking like "604605406546540smith bob a 8464 1 0 0 0"), working with IT to query the WILD system for addresses and what not, then getting the data to the web team for posting (http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/permits/results/ and https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/wa/specialhuntlookup) and the Licensing unit for permit printing.  (And the mis-printed permits from 2009 was not my fault, Dept. Of Printing dropped the ball on that one).  I also created the spreadsheets that were uploaded to the WILD system to populate hunt choices when you go to enter your application.

So yea, I'll be hanging around answering any questions I can.  I was put on admin leave in Decemember 2009 and finally fired in May 2010, so some things may have changed.

Mike

[bobcat]

Great! Well, I'm sorry you were fired. I don't suppose you'd want to say why? I remember you well and was very sorry when they told you not to post anymore. Especially thought that was ridiculous since it was on your own time! I'll be thinking of some questions for sure. But it's too late right now. I'll have to sleep on it.

[bow4elk]

Mike, are you the guy mentioned on the news last night?  Just curious. 

[bobcat]

I don't think that guy was from Olympia, and he was a biologist.

[sisu]

Fired! Hell, the governor, her staff and all the top admin. at WDFW should be canned not the troops running the show.

[bobcat]

Fired! Hell, the governor, her staff and all the top admin. at WDFW should be canned not the troops running the show.

[InsideWDFW]

Mike, are you the guy mentioned on the news last night?  Just curious.  

I'm assuming you are talking about this http://www.theolympian.com/2010/10/19/1408857/former-washington-department-of.html?  Nope.

Basically I made the mistake a messing around with my boss.  She eventually got mad and had friends up on high.  So I got the crap audited out of me, and they found that I was using Firefox, had used the WILD system to look up an address of the a coworker for Christmas cards, and had looked a sub-shop's webpage to see what I was going to have for dinner.  Life lesson # 3454: Do not date co-workers, especially if she signs your evaluation.

[Curly]

So yea, I'll be hanging around answering any questions I can.

So, is Dave Ware really as big of a *censored* as he appears to be?

Did WDFW really think the new permit draw system was a good idea?  Or did they only come up with all the new category system for the sole purpose of generating more revenue?

When did WDFW start working on the new category system, and did they try to keep it a secret from the public until it was basically too late to stop the system from being implemented?


There.  Those are a few of the questions that have been on my mind for almost a year now.  You may not be able to answer any of those questions, but if you can.......I'm all ears.

[robodad]

It's really good to see you back here but wish it could have been under better circumstances, Welcome back !! 

[runamuk]

Mike, are you the guy mentioned on the news last night?  Just curious.  

I'm assuming you are talking about this http://www.theolympian.com/2010/10/19/1408857/former-washington-department-of.html?  Nope.

Basically I made the mistake a messing around with my boss.  She eventually got mad and had friends up on high.  So I got the crap audited out of me, and they found that I was using Firefox, had used the WILD system to look up an address of the a coworker for Christmas cards, and had looked a sub-shop's webpage to see what I was going to have for dinner.  Life lesson # 3454: Do not date co-workers, especially if she signs your evaluation.

this makes me laugh but very good advice  

I am glad you are back I rather liked having someone who actually was in wdfw answering questions.  I am sorry you lost your job....but nice to have you back here.

[Curly]

I thought of a couple more.

What percentage of WDFW employees would you estimate are anti-hunters? 

I can't make any sense out of WDFW protecting cougars like they seem to be doing.  Is there some sort of cougar lover working there that lobbies for the crazy rules that have been set lately regarding cougars?

[InsideWDFW]

So, is Dave Ware really as big of a *censored* as he appears to be?

Did WDFW really think the new permit draw system was a good idea?  Or did they only come up with all the new category system for the sole purpose of generating more revenue?

When did WDFW start working on the new category system, and did they try to keep it a secret from the public until it was basically too late to stop the system from being implemented?

On a personal level, Dave's a pretty good guy.  At his level professionally he has to be a politician, so he get wishy-washy sometimes.

The new permit system was just getting put together when I was put on admin leave so I don't know too much about it.  I do know the rumblings of something like it began in the last season setting process.  I know they were aware that the first couple of years were going to be weird due the points that had been built up, but were confident that it would calm down eventually.  While increased revenue was discussed (the agency is scrambling for more money), the majority of the talk that I heard focused around hunter's comments/concerns with the way the system was.

What percentage of WDFW employees would you estimate are anti-hunters?  

I can't make any sense out of WDFW protecting cougars like they seem to be doing.  Is there some sort of cougar lover working there that lobbies for the crazy rules that have been set lately regarding cougars?

Believe it or not I was the odd duck out and was one of the few who didn't hunt (not anti-hunting, just never had the chance).  The guys who are directly involved with land use and game management (people like Dave Ware, Jerry Nelson, ect.) are just about as hardcore about hunting as you are.  WDFW is one of those places where it's fairly easy to take a vacation during the summer, but almost impossible to get time off in the fall because everyone is out in the field.

I'm not sure what you are talking about as far as cougars (I've been out of the loop for nearly a year).  I will say (in my personal opinion) that the cougar manager is an ok biologist, but a lousy manager - a sentiment that is shared by a lot of people in the agency.  On the flip side, the unofficial mission statement of the agency was basically "Managing Washington's Wildlife so your great, great, great, grandson has something to tag/hook."

[Skyvalhunter]

How long is the contract for with the company that does the drawings? I heard they get a certain percentage of each License, tag, punch card, etc sold. Is there any truth to this?

[Humptulips]

There are certain people in the department that never return calls or answer e-mails. I won't name names. Is there any system within the department for tracking who is actually doing their job regarding customer relations and is there any repercussions if they are not?

[InsideWDFW]

How long is the contract for with the company that does the drawings? I heard they get a certain percentage of each License, tag, punch card, etc sold. Is there any truth to this?

I'm not 100% sure when the contract is up, but I believe in the next year or two.  The thing is there really are no other companies that could do it, so I wouldn't be surprised if they stick with Outdoors Central/Active Outdoors.  Especially now that the system has stabilized.  There is a fee on every license that goes into an account that then is paid to OC/AO.  The fun part about it is that if they don't do what they are supposed to do, then the agency doesn't pay them the fees.  This happened a lot in the beginning. 

There are certain people in the department that never return calls or answer e-mails. I won't name names. Is there any system within the department for tracking who is actually doing their job regarding customer relations and is there any repercussions if they are not?

I'll name names, Dave Ware and Donny Martorello.  I'll start with the answer you'll like.

Like I said earlier, Donny is a biologist, not a manager.  He's in the office maybe 2 days out five.  You're not alone if you are frustrated with not being able to get a hold of Donny, so is the staff.  The 2009 spring bear drawing/packets almost didn't happen on time because he went awhol.  I had my brother on standby to be the citizen witness for the drawing because Donny didn't get one.  I finally sent out the permit packets without his approval because he didn't answer a bunch of e-mails, phone calls, or headups from his boss (Dave Ware) and mine.  Don't even get me started on Trapper reports.

Dave Ware like I said is basically a politician.  Three quarters of his day is spent in meetings.  Right about now I bet he's getting 20 to 30 calls a day and 30-40 e-mails from hunters.  He just doesn't have time to answer them all.  And 99% of the calls/e-mails he gets were answered farther down the food chain.  There were quite a few times I'd give an answer to a caller, they wouldn't like it and ask to speak to Dave.  Dave would get the message come back to me, and have me respond to the caller and give the exact same answer I gave the caller in the first place.

Dave is really good about sitting down with the front-line staff (360-902-2515 and Wildthing@dfw.wa.gov) and going over questions we got.  A majority of the calls/e-mails I received I had already had an answer from Dave on.  A good example is point refunds. There's a pretty cut and dry policy on when I could refund points.  If I said I'm sorry, going over my head wouldn't change it.  If it was something questionable, I'd tell the caller I call them back, walk over to Dave's office and ask him face to face.  I'm sure that his communication with the front desk staff has improved since then seeing how the person who basically replaced me on the phones/e-mails is his wife.

When you get go above the front-line staff, there really is no tracking and what not.  Nine times out of ten the answer you got by calling 360-902-2515 is the answer you'd get if you went up the food chain.