Florida Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shovelers Announces New Inductees—

Florida Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shovelers Announces New Inductees

Patrick Murphy

The lastest inductees for the Florida Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shovelers (FSSSSS) have been announced as follows:

Class of 2020

S Tina Nixon S Larry Hickey S Mike Darrow (with outgoing “pH 7”

Tom Baber)

Class of 2021

S Mike Sweeney S Vaughan Harshman S Jake Rohrich (with incoming “pH 7”

Patrick Murphy)

The FSSSSS was founded in 1956 by David B. Lee to recognize industry professionals for their outstanding and meritorious service above and beyond the call of duty to the Florida wastewater industry and to the Florida Pollution Control Association (FPCA), now known as the Florida Water Environment Association (FWEA). The FSSSSS is an award of FWEA and nominees must be a member in good standing of the organization at the time of their nomination.

Traditionally, the intent of the annual award is to honor an engineer, an operator, and a “peddler,” if in fact, three candidates are deemed to have contributed outstanding and meritorious service above and beyond the call of duty to FWEA.

Upon successful completion of the induction ceremony, the nominees are “elevated on the official shovel to the highest ridge on the sludge bed, with the title of Florida Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shoveler, with all the honor, atmosphere, perquisites, and dignity appertaining thereunto.”

There are no dues for membership in the society, nor are there any officers, except the “influent integrator,” who is designated by the neutral term “ph 7”and who is elected, or should be elected, by a vote of the shovelers present at a meeting of the association and serves until a successor has been elected or installed. The integrator’s duties are to record and report selections, present official certificates of elevation, bestow badges, and generally keep chapter members advised concerning activities of the society.

Each inductee receives a badge in the form of a decorative gold pin in the shape of a round-nosed shovel. The shovel must be displayed at all official functions of the society, FWEA, and the Water Environment Federation (WEF). It must always be worn or displayed to indicate a member in good standing. The penalty of being found without the shovel by another “shoveler” is to provide all those present with a refreshment of their choice.

Each member is provided with a membership certificate signed by the influent integrator as pH7 and by twelve other shovelers for the remaining concentrations from pH 1 to pH 13. While the wording on the certificates may vary from chapter to chapter, it normally indicates that selection to membership is in recognition of “outstanding service above and beyond the call of duty” to the association.

Patrick Murphy is chief plant operator with City of Plant City. S

From left to right are Tina Nixon, senior project manager at Ardurra (engineer); Larry Hickey, president of Equipment Plus Solutions Inc. (peddler); Mike Darrow, utilities operations superintendent at Plant City (operator); and outgoing “pH 7” Tom Baber. From left to right are Patrick Murphy (incoming pH 7); Mike Sweeney, director–innovation and strategic advancement, Toho Water Authority (engineer); Vaughan Harshman, corporate manager, Evoqua Water Technologies (peddler); and Jake Rohrich, operations and maintenance section manager, Polk County Utilities (operator).