Defiance County ODOT employee claims double win
An employee in the Defiance County Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) District 1 garage was named the winner in the ODOT District 1 truck and loader roadeo held Wednesday, May 2, 2018 in Lima.
Winning the truck competition was Chris Miles of the Defiance County garage, with a score of 2,125 out of a possible 2,300. Behind him, Charles Cook of Paulding County won second place with a score of 2,040. In third place was Bryce Kauffman, a first-year competitor and employee in the Allen County garage.
Miles also won the loader competition, scoring 2,190 out of a possible 2,300. Jarrod Lyle of the Allen County garage finished second with a score of 2,130. Leon Goyings, who works in the district garage in Lima, finished in third place.
This is Miles’ second year advancing to the state roadeo and first year winning both portions of the roadeo competition. He is a 13-year veteran of the organization.
The Defiance County garage won the district team award, which is given to the work unit that finished with the top two scores in both the truck and loader competition.
The top two finishers in the district competitions in both the truck and loader event will go on to compete against their coworkers in the statewide competition, which will be held in Columbus in June.
The roadeo is a friendly competition that pits equipment operators against one another to test their skill in maneuvering equipment through a series of obstacles intended to mimic situations they encounter on the job. Participants are also required to find deliberately-placed mechanical bugs on equipment as part of the pre-trip inspection portion of the competition. The competition also included a test of the rules and laws pertaining to holders of a commercial driver’s license (CDL).
All highway technicians at ODOT are required to retain a CDL.
“The roadeo serves an important function in allowing our drivers to operate equipment in a competitive environment and then carry those skills into the work they do every day,” said Kirk Slusher, ODOT District 1 deputy director.
Displayed at the roadeo were the plows decorated as part of the Paint the Plow contest. Paint the Plow is an annual competition that asks area high school and vocational school students to paint an ODOT plow blade with their message of school spirit, safety, patriotism or Ohio pride. There were 21 schools from ODOT District 1’s eight-county region participating this year – the highest number since the contest’s inaugural year in 2014.
County garage employees chose their favorite entry from their respective counties to go forward to the final round of judging for the overall ODOT choice award. Additionally, voting for a people’s choice award is underway on ODOT District 1’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ODOTDistrict1/. Photos of all 21 plows are posted there, and each like, comment or share on a plow’s picture counts as a vote.
The ODOT choice winner, as well as the people’s choice award winner, will be announced Monday afternoon, after social media voting concludes.
District 1 encompasses Allen, Defiance, Hancock, Hardin, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert and Wyandot counties.
