Baltimore, MD – On Pi Day, the Baltimore City Comptroller's Office is pleased to announce the recipients of the inaugural Public Innovation and Efficiency (PIE) Awards. These awards recognize outstanding contributions made by Baltimore City government agencies and employees who play a crucial role in improving our City and advancing our shared goals through their hard work, collaboration, and innovation

“The PIE awards thank individuals and teams across City agencies for their outstanding public service,” said Comptroller Bill Henry. “Public innovation and efficiency hinges on cross-agency  trust, accountability, and dedication – those are the values these folks embody.”  

The following individuals and teams have been selected as honorees: 

• Law Department nominated by the Department of Real Estate for their collaboration, responsiveness, and professionalism when navigating complex real estate deals. 

  • Richard Kagan (Team) 

  • Joann Levin (Team) 

  • Fran Glushakow (Team) 

  • Michael Weiland (Team) 

• Baltimore City Information Technology 

  • Team nominated by the Comptroller’s Policy and Communication team for excelling in responsible, meticulous, and accountable contract administration. 

    • Tierra Pierson 

    • Imani Felder  

    • Khadijah Saleem 

• • Individual

    • Me'Shae Robinson nominated by Accounts Payable for her consistent support in navigating IT issues. 

    • Rob McBride nominated by the Comptroller’s Central Office for supporting the transition of Accounts Payable to the Office of the Comptroller from Finance. 

• Department of General Services nominated by the Department of Audits for their cooperation and accountability to improve internal controls and processes over fuel management and fuel distribution.

  • Berke Attila (Team) 

  • Shanae Williams (Team) 

  • William Barrett (Team) 

  • Jacqueline Powers (Team) 

  • David Gold (Team) 

• Department of Housing & Community Development 

  • Jasmine Parris-Brooks nominated by the Board of Estimates team for thoroughness and meticulous attention to accuracy in her submissions to the Board of Estimates.  

• Baltimore Police Department nominated by the Department of Telecommunications for working collaboratively to audit over 1,200 analog lines, special circuits, fax lines, resulting in an annual savings of approximately $137,000, with an additional savings of $227,864 once the audit is completed

  • Derek Canton (Team) 

  • Tia Vance (Team) 

• Department of Public Works nominated by the Municipal Post Office for working in concert to manage the City and County water bills and contributing to the bulk of informative inserts MPO’s customers receive. 

  • Dena Rattner (Team) 

  • Nickell Saddler (Team) 

  • Terrence Jennings (Team) 

  • David Wollner (Team) 

• Department of Finance nominated by the Comptroller’s Central Office for their joint effort in bringing structure to the Auctioneer/ Pawnbroker Licensing/ Renewal Process. 

  • Valerie Young (Team) 

  • Rachel Mathurin (Team) 

  • Toyia Tynes (Team) 

  • Lisa Harden (Team) 

Awardees were honored at a casual ceremony at City Hall this morning with citations and pie from Pie Time, Pariser’s and Sweet 27.  

These additional nominees are worthy of honorable mention: Natasha Edmonds - Mayor’s Office; Alice Kennedy – DHCD; Shared Services, Department of Human Resources; Mayor’s Office of Infrastructure; Bureau of Budget & Management Research; Ken Nischan – BCIT; Theresa Desimone – Law; Paul Zimmerman – BCIT and Jim Hicks; and Nithiya Anand, Jilaine Yu - BCIT. 

The Baltimore Comptroller’s PIE Awards have been modelled in part after a program developed by Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand who in 2019, created the PIE program to provide advice, feedback, and recognition to government entities striving to save taxpayer money by implementing the recommendations of his office. Auditor Sand’s office also collects these innovative ideas, known as “PIE recipes,” and shares them with other government entities across Iowa. 

Event photos can be found on the Comptroller's Facebook page. The ceremony can be watched on Charm TV's Youtube Page.