ORCAA's Staff and Organizational Structure
Staff Directory Found Here
The Administration Section
This section is responsible for overseeing and managing day-to-day operations of the agency. The Administrative Section is staffed by a Secretary, Administrative Assistant II, Administrative Services Manager and the Executive Director. Areas of responsibility include human resources, employee payroll and benefits, accounting, policy development, planning, information technology and administrative support. Administrative staff work closely with all other sections to provide assistance and direction.
The Compliance Section
The Compliance Section's responsibilities range from complaint response to permitting, to inspections of businesses that emit air pollution. In general, the Compliance Section spends a considerable amount of time in the field performing their duties. As such, the compliance staff is the "face of the agency" to many people. A Compliance Supervisor and three Air Quality Specialists (AQS) staff the Compliance Section.
The Engineering Section
ORCAA's Engineering Section provides engineering expertise that benefits all programs at the agency, but primarily in the areas of compliance assessment and permitting. The section is responsible for implementing two essential air regulatory programs required by the Washington Clean Air Act: New Source Review (NSR) and Title V Air Operating Permits (Title V). The Engineering Section is also responsible for maintaining the agency's emissions inventory, implementation of certain delegated federal regulations, State Implementation Plan (SIP) related activities, and maintaining ORCAA's local regulations. ORCAA's Engineering Section comprises four engineers including one licensed Professional Engineer and an Emissions Data Specialist.
Monitoring Section
ORCAA operates an air quality-monitoring network within its six-county jurisdiction. Data collected at the various sites are provided to Ecology, EPA and the public. Ambient air quality data are essential for ORCAA and other agencies. The data are used to provide real-time decision making capabilities, such as the need for burn bans, track trends and to provide input for computer models used to predict concentrations of air pollutants.
Education & Outreach
The Public Education and Outreach section, staffed by the Public Information Officer (PIO), coordinates essential communications between the agency and the public. The primary areas of emphasis include media relations, interagency coordination, public education and community involvement. The PIO coordinates all agency publications, including the tasks of writing and/or editing the content. Other tasks include desktop publishing design work for all brochures, newsletters, signs, banners and special publications.
The PIO also serves as the agency's web master, maintaining the content and format of the ORCAA website and online presence.