Recently we have had the pleasure of interviewing an ACES-NRCS Enrollee for the purpose of including her as a Spotlight in our ACES Newsletter. Faye’s monitors have highly recommended her for the Spotlight, and we agree completely! Her name is Elizabeth “Faye” Floyd, and she has been with the ACES Program since 2013. Faye plays a great role in the Jackson office as a Program Support Specialist, and she is a very dedicated ACES-NRCS Enrollee!
Jamie Carpenter, the Assistant State Conservationist for Programs at NRCS, has this to say about Faye:
“Faye is a very dedicated employee who works very hard each and every day to ensure Tennessee producers receive their payments for installed conservation practices as timely as possible. Faye cares very deeply about the work that she does and it shows. She invests time in other team members and Field office staff to help train them on the payment process. I feel very fortunate to have Faye on my team!”
Faye provided us with her history at NRCS, along with information:
- I began my career with the federal government in 1978 as a part-time clerk-typist with the Soil Conservation Service, now Natural Resources Conservation Service. Eventually I started working full-time and was able to apply for the position of Administrative Coordinator. This job consisted of overseeing the administrative duties for the employees in the twenty-one counties of West Tennessee. When Natural Resources Conservation Service became responsible for making payments to landowners for Farm Bill Programs for the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP), the Conservation Security Program (CSP), and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), I was selected to be one of the reviewers of payments in the State. My boss, Richard West, Area Conservationist at that time, was very instrumental in my selection. I continued to do my other duties and assisted with approving payments for all the state. This led to a nice promotion for me with NRCS.
- After 35 years of service with NRCS I retired September 30, 2013. The State Administrative Officer, Susan Hopkins, gave me the information about the ACES program. She discussed that they would like to outsource the payment process with an employee through the ACES program. I applied and was fortunate enough to be selected. I began working as an ACES employee in October of that year.
- I review contracts for the ninety-five counties in Tennessee. My job consists of making sure the documents match the contract, have required signatures, and other required information. If there are discrepancies, I contact the field office and request necessary documents needed to complete the review. If everything is correct, I complete documents and notify the approving official the document is ready to be approved. My position is unique in that I can do my job from home. I only have work if the field offices have documents to be reviewed. Some days I might work one hour and in the busiest times of the year I might work seven or eight hours. Since the beginning of the fiscal year, I have reviewed around 1500 contracts.
- Up until this year, I was mainly responsible for all contract reviews for the state. There are different deadlines during the year, but the months of October, November and December are the busiest during the year. Due to the volume of contracts in the state, I was requested this past year to train two other employees to assist as needed. One of these persons is also an ACES employee.
- I enjoy the flexibility of my job, while still feeling like I can help to carry on the motto of NRCS, Helping People Help the Land. I also enjoy being able to maintain my contacts with my NRCS family.
- Making sure I am keeping up with any changes that might affect what I do.
- I am involved with my church and my Sunday School Class. Since retiring five years ago, I have volunteered with a reading program (Team Read) for second graders in the local school system. I have three teenage grandsons. One needs a lot of transportation to soccer and football practice! Over the years, I have done a lot of traveling, most of which was done with some special friends and co-workers of NRCS. I enjoy life with family and friends and my special little dog companion Gaby.
We are certain that the people surrounding Faye at NRCS are appreciative of her work, and we at NEW Solutions are very proud to call her an ACES-NRCS Enrollee!
