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February 5, 2009 Issue

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Nominees for Employee
Awards Ceremony Unveiled

Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo (a.k.a. Kelly Holecek and Bryan Gray) were guest presenters for the awards ceremony last year.


By Gary Johnson, Director of Human Resources

The annual awards season in Hollywood has already begun with the recent Golden Globe awards in January and will continue with the upcoming Grammy Awards on Feb. 8 and the Academy Awards Show on Feb. 22.

However, those programs will not be able to measure up to the fun, unexpected surprises and celebrity appearances lined up for the 4th annual City of Waco Employee Awards Ceremony.

The event promises to be bigger and better than ever and will take place on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 1:30 p.m. in the Bosque Theatre at the Waco Convention Center.

Past employee awards ceremonies have included appearances by the Blues Brothers/Wiley Stem and George Johnson —City Manager’s Office; Joan and Melissa Rivers/Karen Clark and Windy Leal—Human Resources; Paris Hilton/Crystal Jones —H.R.; Tony Romo/Bryan Gray and Jessica Simpson/Kelly Holecek—General Services; and Gladys Knight/Trish Ervin—City Secretary and The Pips/Adrian Floyd—Facilities and Nelson Washington & Steve Nickerson—Parks and Recreation, just to name a few.

This year’s list of honorees includes 30 nominations representing more than 150 employees. A total of four awards will be presented including two for customer service and two for teamwork.

The recognition program divides the nominations into two categories based on department size—those with greater than 75 employees (Group A) and those with less than 75 employees (Group B). The nominations all involve City accomplishments that occurred between Oct. 1, 2007 and Sept. 30, 2008.

The nominees are as follows:

Customer Service (Group A)

  • Freddie Phillips/Solid Waste Services
  • Officer Steve Dieterich/Police Department
  • Streets Crew (60 employees)
  • Street Services
  • Det. Steve January/Police Department
  • Det. Donnie Morgan/Police Department
  • Carolyn Fisher/Public Health District
  • Gladys Hand/Public Health District
  • Rebecca Krusell/Public Health District
  • Carolyn Scott/Public Health District
  • Eva Edwards/Police Department
  • Albert Lopez/Police Department
  • Charlotte Doran/Water Utility Services

Customer Service (Group B)

  • Cindy Mullens/Information Technology
  • Teri Holtkamp/Housing & Community Development
  • Cathy Groppe/Building Inspections
  • Marcia Whitten/City Secretary’s Office
  • Rose Pena & Andi Heppell/Human Resources

Teamwork (Group A)

  • John Settlemyer/Solid Waste & Jake Krall/Engineering
  • Streets Team: Lewis Aleman, Alejandro Avila, David Boen, Claudio Chavez, Dennis Cook, Billy Dehart, John Hamilton, Butch Heffelfinger, William Horton, James Lowe, Saul Mendez, Larry Morgan, Flavio Perales, Terry Reneau, Luis Reyes-Rivera, George Rivera, Richard Rogers, Ezequial Santibanez, Richard Smith, Robert Stone, Lou Teakell, Chuck Terry, Charles Woods and Kenneth Fickel
  • Sherry Williams/Public Health District
  • Jennifer Morgan/Public Health District
  • Call Center Team (Water Utility Services): Karen Gafford, Terresa Hadden, Vicki Puryear, Soledad Compian, Ryntha Dorough, Lisa Martinez, Bridgett Voss and Arlene Wegwerth
  • WMARSS Staff (24 employees)/Water Utility Services
  • Chris Barton/Solid Waste Services
  • Engineering/Traffic/Information Technology: David Dokupil/Traffic, Jeremy Hendrix/Traffic, Larry Blare/Traffic and John Branch/I.T.

Teamwork (Group B)

  • Missie Pustejovsky, Lisa Wilcox & Crystal Jones/Human Resources
  • Mark Randolph, Scott Mattlage & Troy Shaw/Municipal Information
  • Sue Pfleging & Karen Clark/Human Resources

Community Service (Group A)

  • Nora Schell/Water Utility Services

Congratulations to all the nominees!

If you'd like to submit information for the City Talk Newsletter, you can send an email to: marlenen@ci.waco.tx.us
or call 750-5638.


New City Employee Scholarship

Employees who attended the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon had the opportunity to bid on items during a silent auction benefiting the new City employee “I Have a Dream” Scholarship program.

A minimum of two $1,000 scholarships will be awarded this spring during the annual City of Waco Employee Cinco de Mayo luncheon. One scholarship will be awarded to a City employee and the second will be awarded to the relative of a City employee.

The actual number of scholarships awarded will be based on the amount of funds raised. A total of $1,020 was raised at the luncheon in January and a golf tournament is planned for this spring to raise additional funds.

Scholarship packets are now available in the City Secretary’s office, the Waco-McLennan County Libraries, the Parks & Recreation administration office and recreation centers, and the Employee Intranet at www.waco-texas.com/intranet.htm.

The requirements include submitting two references and writing a brief essay.

Applications should be mailed or dropped off at the City Secretary’s Office in City Hall. The deadline for applications is Feb. 24 by 5 p.m.

Spring Break Fun

Super Critters Spring Adventure Camp

Children in Kindergarten through 6th grade can enjoy a wild adventure at the Cameron Park Zoo during the Spring Adventure Camp program.

Campers will enjoy a week filled with amazing art projects, fun games, educational activities and animal encounters! Campers will receive a Zoo Adventure Camp T-shirt and water bottle. Spring Adventure camp is March 9-13. Go to www.cameronparkzoo.com/zooeducation-families.html for more information.

Spring Break Round Up 2009

Wrangle your kids’ restless spirits and bring them to the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum for Spring Break Round Up, part of the museum’s 40th anniversary celebration.

The event will be held March 9-13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at the Texas Ranger Museum at the corner of University Parks Drive and I-35. Your children will be entertained with daily crafts and activities while they learn about legendary Texas lawmen. This is a come and go all-day event with activities for elementary school-age children. An adult must accompany children.

Some of the activities include Old West Laser Target Game, Fingerprinting, Coloring Contest and Bandana Making. For more information, call the museum staff at 750-8631 or visit www.texasranger.org.

Spring Break Magic

Waco’s own Magic Man, Todd McKinney, will be featured at all four Waco-McLennan County Libraries during the week of Spring Break. See the schedule for the free programs below.

  • Tuesday, March 10 – East Waco Library, 901 Elm, at 10:30 a.m.
  • Wednesday, March 11 – Hoover Library, 1428 Wooded Acres, at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
  • Thursday, March 12 – Central Library, 1717 Austin, at 10:30 a.m.
  • Friday, March 13 – South Waco Library, 2737 S. 18th, at 10:30 a.m.

For more information, call 750-5942.

Spring Break Camp
at Recreation Centers

Registration is open for the City of Waco Parks and Recreation Spring Break camps. South Waco, Bledsoe-Miller, and Dewey Recreation Centers will offer Spring Break camps for kids ages 5 to 13 from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on March 9-13.

Children will participate in various activities including recreational games and crafts. Snacks will be provided, but campers must bring their own lunch.

The registration fee is $40 per child. For more information or to register, contact the recreation centers at South Waco 750-8650, Bledsoe-Miller 750-8684 and Dewey 750-8677.

Genealogy Workshop

The Waco –McLennan County Library in cooperation with the Friends of the East Waco Library and the Central Texas Genealogical Society is sponsoring “The Roots that Bind, an African American Genealogy Workshop” on Saturday, Feb. 28 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the East Waco Library, 901 Elm Ave.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. For more information or to RSVP contact Bill Buckner at 254-750-5945.

Black History Program

The Bledsoe-Miller Recreation Center will host a free Black History program from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19. The program will include performances by local church choirs, praise dance teams and drill teams. For more information, call 750-8684.

 

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