Awards Ceremony Celebrates
Outstanding Employees
One of the more comical moments was when Paris Hilton
(Crystal Jones) and Britney Spears (Kelly Holecek) appeared as presenters
with Chief Brent Stroman serving as their probation officer.
While Hollywood stars walked the red carpet in style on Feb. 22
for the Academy Awards, City of Waco employees had their own recognition
ceremony on Feb. 26 complete with celebrity appearances.
Some of the big names attending the Employee Awards ceremony included
look-a-like hosts of TV shows such as “The View,” “American Idol,”
and contestants from “Dancing with the Stars.”
A total of six awards were presented in the areas of teamwork,
customer service, community service and lifetime achievement.
This year’s winners are as follows:
Customer Service (more than 75 employees): Officer Steven
Dieterich, Waco Police Department.
Officer Dieterich was nominated for implementing the “Tippin Ain’t
Snitchin” campaign in his role as the director of Waco Crime Stoppers.
The campaign has received national attention through Crime Stoppers
USA.
Customer Service (less than 75 employees): Teri Holtkamp,
Housing & Community Development.
Holtkamp is the Homelessness Administrator for the City of Waco.
She has also been referred to as “Waco’s angel for the homeless.”
Holtkamp has been overseeing the implementation of Waco’s 10-year
plan to end chronic homelessness. She received the Kathy Reid award
from the Texas Homeless Network in September of 2008 in recognition
of her efforts.
Teamwork (more than 75 employees): David Dokupil, Larry
Blare, Jeremy Hendrick, all of Traffic Services; and John Branch,
Information Technology.
They worked together to replace expensive hard wire cable interconnecting
the city’s traffic signals with inexpensive radio units at each
signal controller.
Teamwork (more than 75 employees): Mark Randolph, Scott
Mattlage and Troy Shaw, all of Municipal Information.
They were nominated for their work to keep the analog channel
for WCCC-TV in operation while shooting, operating and editing new
programs for the HD channel, which was launched in December. WCCC
has been recognized by the National Cable Access Guild as one of
the top government channels in the nation.
Community Service: Nora Schell, Water Utilities.
Schell continues to encourage community leaders and organization
to learn and do more for the environment in her role as program
coordinator at the Lake Waco Wetlands. She worked with Baylor University
and its Center for Reservoir and Aquatic Sciences Center in applying
for a six-year grant to enhance Waco Independent School District
students’ science and math skills through educational programs at
the wetlands. She is also working with Baylor faculty to develop
a summer camp at the wetlands for inner-city youth with hands-on
activities.
Lifetime Achievement: Joe Mayfield, City Manager’s Office.
Mayfield retired as Assistant City Manager on Jan. 31, 2009. During
his 35-year career with the City of Waco, he was involved in a number
of massive construction programs including downtown projects funding
by TIF funds, capital improvement projects, and the highly successful
program during the 1980s to improve Waco streets.
His expertise in engineering was enhanced by his strong ethics,
sincere honesty and ability to work with others. Mayor Virginia
DuPuy presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Mayfield during
the awards ceremony.
To begin the ceremony, the nominees were serenaded with a song
performed by students from Sul Ross Elementary School, City Hall’s
school partner in the Partner in Education program.
Some of the highlights of the ceremony included an appearance by
Britney Spears (Kelly Holecek) and Paris Hilton (Crystal Jones).
Police Chief Brent Stroman played the role of Britney’s probation
officer, and Paris presented City Manager Larry Groth with a T-shirt
proclaiming him as her new best friend.
The staff from Human Resources were joined by Gaynell Benson of
Purchasing in a skit portraying the hosts from the TV show “The
View.” Their hot topic of discussion was the delay in renovations
of the HR offices.
In other celebrity appearances, Esmeralda Hudson and Jeff Wall
played the roles of Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell from the TV show
“American Idol”; City Secretary Patricia Ervin, City Attorney Leah
Hayes, and Assistant City Manager George Johnson, Jr. appeared as
contestants from “Dancing with the Stars”; and Liz Taylor, Mandy
Spikes and Sandy Lane, all from the Waco Convention & Visitors Bureau
posed as the Best Actress nominees from this year’s Academy Awards.
Just like the Academy Awards, all of the winners gave acceptance
speeches, thanking their fellow co-workers and adding a little humor
here and there.
One of the most memorable moments was when the guys from WCCC-TV
were announced as winners and had to leave their cameras behind.
They pointed out they have final editing power to determine what
will appear in the final program, which will air on WCCC next week.
Congratulations to this year’s winners!
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.
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New Employee Orientation
for February
Front Row: Gwen Parks, Public Health District;
and Cammie Abbott, Engineering Services.
Second Row: Jeffrey Burgers, Solid Waste Services;
Randell Reed, Solid Waste Services; and Juan Lopez, Inspections
Services.
Back Row: Margarito Perez, Solid Waste Services;
William Calcote, Public Health District; and Justin Branch, Cameron
Park Zoo.
Front Row: Valerie Ross, Cameron Park Zoo;
and Judith Feliciano, Police Department.
Second Row: David McAdams, Water Utility Services;
Tim Schmidt, Water Utility Services; and John Fredrich, Solid Waste
Services.
Third Row: Jason Holder, Water Utility Services;
Stan Price, Water Utility Services; Harold Holmes, Cameron Park
Zoo; and Eddie Crosby, Solid Waste Services.
Fourth Row: Bryan Hamrick, Solid Waste Services;
and Andrew Pustejovsky, Facilities.
Spring Break Round Up
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.
City Staff Spotlight
Promotions/ Transfers
Scott Jukes, Water Utility Services, has transferred to
Engineering Services as an inspector. Jukes is certified by the
TCEQ as a Class C Water Distribution operator.
Retirement
Charles Williams, Engineering Services, has retired after
24 years and 6 months of service with the City of Waco.
Congratulations
Street Services selected Dennis Cook, Sr. as their employee
of the month for December, and Brian Ross as their employee
of the month for January.
Employee Race for the Cure Team
All City of Waco employees, their families and their friends are
invited to join the City of Waco’s team for this year’s Komen Race
for the Cure. This year’s race will be held Saturday, April 18 at
Indian Spring Park.
Team members can choose to participate in the one mile or 5K run/walk,
support their team members the day of the race, and/or make a donation
to the cause.
The Komen Race for the Cure© raises significant funds and awareness
for the fight to end breast cancer, celebrates breast cancer survivors,
and honors those who have lost their battle with the disease.
Up to 75 percent of the net Race income stays in our community
to fund breast health education, breast cancer screening and treatment
projects. To register, go to www.komencentraltexas.org
and join the City of Waco team. The first 10 people to contact
the team captain will be given a discount code for free registration.
For more information, contact our Team Captain Crystal Smedley
at 750-5481 or CrystalS@ci.waco.tx.us.
The good times and great music return to downtown starting in April
at the City of Waco’s Brazos Nights concert series. The first free
concert of the year will be Friday, April 3 featuring Texas artists
Stoney Larue, Hayes Carll and Modern Day Drifters.
Stoney LaRue is one of the most popular singers in Texas.
Playing close to 300 dates a year, he has headlined top festivals
across the state and played at venues around the world. His music
combines the rootsy, emotionally honest sound of country with the
swagger of heartland rock and a dash of the moody undercurrents
of the blues.
With the release of his 2008 album Trouble in Mind, Hayes Carll
has received praise from the likes of SPIN, New York Times and
Washington Post, and the Americana Music Association awarded him
with the Song of the Year honors. Mixing folk, country, rock and
great song-writing, Hayes Carll is now selling out clubs across
the nation.
Modern Day Drifters is one of Waco’s most promising bands.
The band’s music stems from the roots of soul and southern rock
to the front porch of the country. The band was recently nominated
for Gruene with Envy’s Texas New Artist of the Year.
Upcoming Brazos Nights concerts will include:
- May 1: Cinco de Mayo Celebration with a performance from Waco’s
blues trio Pride & Joy and music from La Ley 104.1 FM
- June 5: Great Texas Blues and Soul with Ruthie Foster and Ray
Wylie Hubbard
- July 4: Fourth on the Brazos with the Fab 5, T-Bird and the
Breaks, Waco Community Band and H-E-B Fireworks Extravaganza
Along with live music, Brazos Nights includes food and drink concessions,
children’s arts and games and scenic views from the Suspension Bridge.
The concerts, which begin in 1987, are organized by the City of
Waco Parks and Recreation Department and supported by community
businesses.
For information and a complete schedule, visit www.brazosnightswaco.com.
Lake Waco Cleanup Day
Keep Waco Beautiful, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the
City of Waco are sponsoring the Lake Waco Environmental Cleanup
Day on Saturday, April 4 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. as part of Keep America
Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup.
Volunteers should bring gloves and wear long pants and closed toe
shoes. A hot dog lunch will be served at the pavilion following
the cleanup. For more information, contact Keep Waco Beautiful at
750-5728.
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.
Easter Egg Hunts
The City of Waco Parks and Recreation Department will host three
Easter egg hunts this April at neighborhood recreation centers
- . April 4: Bledsoe-Miller, 300 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.,
11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- April 11: South Waco, 2815 Speight, 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
- April 11: Dewey, 925 N. Ninth St., 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For information, contact the City of Waco Parks and Recreation
Department at 750-5980.
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