CORRECTION: Fire Department Captain Braden Hawkins's first name has been corrected to Robert.
At the Third Annual
City of Alexander Mayor’s Awards Dinner 14 employees were either
recognized for their work ethic during the past year or were publicly
recognized for being promoted to a higher rank. Awards were handed
out to staff of the fire, police and streets/park departments along
with one member of the city hall staff and the mayor’s Employee of
the Year award. The awards dinner was held Friday, October 5 at the
First Baptist Church in Alexander.
 |
| Mayor Paul Mitchell |
“[I] want to to
tell each and every one of the city employees how much I appreciate
each and everything that you do for the citizens of Alexander and the
city,” Mayor Paul Mitchell said during his opening comments. “In
the last three years and ten months we’ve come a long way and the
credit goes to the employees that work here, that carry it out,
myself and the council members that supply the needed funds to do
what we need to do.”
One major change
Mitchell noted is the retention of police officers. During this past
year the city council has been able to add benefits including health
insurance, dental, vision, and a retirement plan for all city
employees. Mitchell said now instead of individuals joining the
Alexander Police Department, getting their state training and
experience, then moving on to a better situation in another city they
are wanting to come here already trained.
“It (benefits)
makes it a lot easier on our department heads to hire professional
people,” he said.
Fire Department
Awards
In his opening
remarks Fire Chief Mark “Gator” Ridgeway, commenting on the city
as a whole, said after being with the department for 12 years and
through, “Several mayors and police chiefs this is the best crew
we’ve had in a long time.” He continued by saying, “You can
tell by the employees we have now and what’s being done in the
city.”
Ridgeway then asked
all of the firefighters present to come to the front of the hall.
With the nine that were present plus the two firefighters who weren’t
at the dinner, “We have 109 years of experience,” Ridgeway said.
“I’m very proud
of who I have and the guys working for me,” he continued. “This
is the first time in the history of the City of Alexander we have all
of the firefighters that are employed by the city and the
volunteers,” except one volunteer, “that are firefighter one and
two.”
The first award was
a
certificate recognizing
Firefighter John Acosta
as the “Selfie
King.”
Ridgeway said he is also
a recent graduate of the
Arkansas
Fire Academy.
Next, Firefighter
Brad
Noblett was presented
with a certificate in
recognition of his
promotion to captain. Friend
Ridgeway said Noblett
has been with the department on the payroll since 2015 and was a cadet at the time.
“Plus he’s my
stepson, son,”
Ridgeway added. “He’s
graduated rookie school
this year, driver ops.
Done everything
we’ve asked him to
do, and
some we haven’t.”
Captain Braden Robert Hawkins received a certificate in recognition of his, “Valuable
contributions” and “Dedication.” Ridgeway said
he started with
the department in 2010.
“The year I was
gone in ‘14 he left right after me,” Ridgeway said. “When I
come [sic] back he wanted to come back.”
Hawkins was promoted
to the rank of captain in 2017.
Next up was
Firefighter
Jeffery Caple. He was
also recognized with a
certificate
for his,
“Valuable contributions”
and “Dedication” to the
Alexander Fire Department.
He’s been with the department
for three
years.
Firefighter Jody
Rounsaville
was selected as Firefighter of
the Year. Reading from the
certificate Ridgeway said,
“In recognition of your
outstanding
service in the
Alexander Fire Department,
Firefighter of the Year.”
“We’ve got a
good group,”
Ridgeway said. “They do a
tremendous job day and
night. We work 24 hours on, 48 hours off.”
Ridgeway then
presented
Mayor Mitchell with a
Bass Pro gift card. “I want
to
thank you for your
cooperation and support
of the fire department and
the city.”
After receiving the
gift card Mitchell commented on Ridgeway’s recent achievement of
getting the fire department’s ISO rating down to a two.
“That lowers your
homeowner’s insurance for fire protection,” Mitchell said. “He’s
actually working on trying to get down to that one.”
The nearest city
rated ISO-1 is Little Rock.
Police Department
Awards
Assistant Police
Chief Richard Harper had the assignment of announcing the names of
the recipients of two department awards; one a Service Commendation
for Supervisor of the Year and, the other, Police Department Employee
of the Year. Presenting the awards to the recipients was Police Chief
Robert Burnett.
“First I'd like to
thank all the family members and citizens that come out to support
our police officers every day,” Harper
said. “This police work is a low-paying job and kind of a dream
that we all chase that wouldn't be possible without the family
members supporting us.”
Harper said he and
Chief Burnett had a difficult time selecting, “Employee of the
Year.” There were many potential candidates.
“All of our
officers did some amazing things that most of the citizens don't know
about and some of their families probably don't know about,” Harper
said. He then gave some examples.
“I watched officer
Cain Maxheimer pull a woman out of a vehicle that was on fire and
then (the vehicle) became fully engulfed after that,” Harper
explained. “I watched him drag her across a field and start first
aid.”
In relaying another
instance Harper said, “I know that officer Wharton lifted a
motorcycle wreck off a man and applied a tourniquet to his leg in an
effort to save his life and he got a complaint for his trouble on
that.”
“And in (an) odd
twist of fate,” Harper continued, “He (Wharton) was at the fire
department performing CPR trying to save another man's life when that
same guy complained on [sic] him.” “But he's out there fighting
the good fight.”
Citing another
example Harper said, “Officer Hill has worked as many as three
sexual assault cases at once, and one of them had three separate
victims.” “That puts a lot of stress and strain on someone.”
“I know sergeant
McKeever, I can't, I couldn't count up how many fugitives burglars
and otherwise bad guys that we've had him sit up on,” Harper
explained. “He's patiently waited for, stopped and arrested, and
put in jail, on all of our warrants that we've ... got [sic].”
Recognizing the
auxiliary officers Harper said, “I don't want to leave out our
auxiliary officers that worked more than a thousand hours this year
so that we can send our full-time officers to school. So that we can
let our full-time officers be home with their family more. So, I
appreciate that.”
Explaining the
criteria for selecting “Supervisor of the Year” Harper said, “You
couldn't look at just what amazing things they did. You had to look
at and see who did the most for their fellow officer, who did the
most for the community, who did the most to build the department up.”
"Sergeant Nicholas Johnson
has become like the backbone
of our police department," Harper continued. "He manages the code enforcement and yet
he still has time to lend his valuable experience and advice to each and every one of us at the police department. I can't think of one officer in the department that he hasn't sat down with and helped with a personal or professional problem. For that reason he's our Supervisor of the Year."
“Rob (Chief
Burnett) runs the police department but Nick is one of those people
that makes the police department run,” Harper said. “So thank you
for me, (you) make my job a lot easier.”
Moving on to the
next award Assistant Police Chief Richard Harper said, “We have
another officer that's done some great things for our citizens, but
moreover he's done great things for his fellow officers. Every single
officer, including myself and Rob (Chief Burnett), has approached
this young man and asked him to cover a shift, or cover something for
us, so we could either go to a school or be at home with our
families. And, he's always been there for us. He's made himself
invaluable to this police department.”
“Right now he's in
the police academy and ... I'm having to tell him to say no to people
because he's coming in and covering weekends for people,” Harper
continued.
With a rousing round
of applause from the audience Assistant Chief Harper introduced
Officer Nick Salyers as, “Officer of the Year.” As noted under
the photo the plaque says “Employee of the Year.”
The next two awards
were on the personal level for Harper. “Lastly,” he said, “I
just want to talk about officer stress. The stress that all the
officers go through and any policeman will tell you that the stress
they go through on the street is ever constant and it's hard, but
it's not the most difficult stress that police officers deal with.
The most difficult stress they deal with is the peer pressure from
other officers, or the pressure from higher up, from their
superiors.”
“I've been a
police officer for 21 years,” Harper continued. “I've seen that
stress take more lives than the other kind of stress. And, in that
time I've worked for four mayors and eight police chiefs and I can
tell you that I have never, I've never worked for anyone as
supportive as these two men (Chief Burnett and Mayor Mitchell).”
“Not long ago I
started at this police department,” Harper continued. “I worked
for six months and was unexpectedly and involuntarily deployed to the
East Africa. That one year turned into 14 or 15 months. That whole
time I knew that my job was secure and that I was appreciated.”
In explaining the
two matching wooden cases to Burnett and Mitchell Harper said, “These
flags were flown over Camp Lomonnier in East Africa in support of
several combat missions against a lot of really bad people. So, thank
you for making sure that my family was safe and secure back here,
while I was over there.”
“We can't do, as a
city, the things that we need ... done without the support of JoAn
Churchill and our
office employees,”
Mayor Paul Mitchell said before moving on to presenting the Employee
of the Year award. “They attend to all the day-to-day parts of work
(to) make sure we have the funding to do what we need to do; to get
all our bills paid, make sure that we can continue doing what we're
doing. So, the office personnel is paramount in what we're able to
do. So, we've got good talented people doing those jobs and I'd like
to give JoAn a thumbs up for everything she does for the city and
taxpayers of Alexander each and every day.”
The approximate 75
employees and family members attending the awards dinner gave her a
round of applause.
Employee of the Year
Moving on to the
Employee of the Year award Mitchell said, “I had some discussions with
some of the department heads and who should receive that honor this
year and I'd like to ask David Durham,” … to “Come on up.”
Durham is the
superintendent of the Alexander Streets and Parks Department.
“We tried to keep
it a secret,” Mitchell said. “I don't know if it worked or not.”
“It worked,”
Durham replied.
Durham was hired
about two years ago. He previously worked for the Saline County
Highway Department.
“This man here has
done wonders for our city,” Mitchell said. He began listing some of
those improvements starting with the city park.
“He's helped carry
that (park improvements) out,” Mitchell said. “(Durham) rented
equipment, ... buried water lines, done all kinds of menial work.”
“He works with a
small crew,” Mitchell continued. “Our street department, if you
can really call it a street department three years ago it's really
non-existent. When I was mayor and I come [sic] in we had two weed
eaters and one running lawn mower. And, that was cutting all the
grass throughout the city to parks.”
“David came in,
saw the needs, assessed what we had, what we needed,” Mitchell
said. “We have several weed eaters now, blowers and we've got [sic]
three ... zero-turn (mowers). We've gotten a track hoe, we've gotten
bigger larger tractor, with what they call a bat-wing mower; which is
a bush hog that folds up on each end … street sweeper (and) dump
truck”
“David has been
locating this equipment that we need to be able to do the work that
we need to be doing,” Mitchell continued.
On the day of the
awards dinner, Friday October 5, the street department purchased a
bucket truck, sometimes known as a cheery picker, from Federal
Surplus.
“That's going to
enable us to be able to get up in the trees and cut dead limbs that’s
hanging over city
streets,” Mitchell
explaining the potential uses of the bucket truck. “We certainly
don't want things like that breaking off and going through somebody's
windshield.”
Mitchell also
mentioned the ability to hang Christmas decorations. “There's never
been any here all the years I lived here.”
Mitchell emphasized
now that the city has the equipment it needs there will be less jobs
that, in the past, would have been contracted out. “It’s going to
save us money,” he said.
“We all agreed
that he was ... Employee of the Year, this year, for the City of
Alexander because we have an actual working street department,”
Mitchell said. “He's built it and he's still building and still
working on it, there's more to come.”
Reading from the
plaque Mitchell said, “Employee of the Year, Presented by Mayor Paul
Mitchell, Awarded to David Durham, This fifth day of October, 2018.”
“Thank you David
for everything you do,” he added.
“Thank you all
very much,” Durham said. “I couldn't do what I do without a great
city council. And, I really couldn't get accomplished what I do
without my guys.”
“I've got four of
us now,” he continued. “Two new guys that are working out pretty
good, and I've got one guy that's kind of my right hand.”
Durham then
proceeded to give special recognition to a long-time member of the
street department. He asked Rod Chapman to come to the front.
Letter of
Recognition
“I just wanted to
give Rod just a little Letter of Recognition of appreciation of the
job that he does for us in the city and
the park,” Durham said. “He does a lot more. He's constantly
watching. He sees stuff that nobody knows about. He stops in his own
personal time and he'll pull limbs out of the road, pull a dog out of
the road or what have you. Rod never hesitates to do it and I
appreciate all he does for me and all he does for the city.”
The city council
recently agreed to establish an employee position for the parks
department. Chapman was allowed to transfer from the street
department to parks. Until now the street department staff were the
only ones available to maintain the park requiring them to track
their time between streets and parks. With a dedicated park employee
that will be less of a problem.
Award of
Excellence
There was one more
award to present. Although the person was not present City Hall
Office Manager JoAn Churchill was asked by the mayor to proceed with
the presentation.
“This is probably
the last time you'll see me up here, Lord willing, I plan to retire
one of these days,” Churchill said before proceeding with the
award. “But I'll tell you what; these firemen, these policemen,
these people in the office are like my own children and I love every
one of you and I'm proud of every one of you. I've never worked with
finer people and that includes the mayor.”
“My office staff,”
she began. “There's two women, ... they do a great job. Jackie does
accounts payable and she's an administrative assistant. Jaime (Myles)
is our court clerk and she's the object of our,” presentation this
evening.
“She's balanced
the court accounts,” Churchill said in explaining the purpose of
the award. “I believe, if I'm not mistaken, it’s the first time
in history that it's been done.”
“When I came
(here) five years ago the girls in the office told me that the bank
account alone had, for the court, had not been looked at for six
years and there's no way that that's ever gonna balance,” she
continued. “But she did it.”
The plaque states,
“City of Alexander, Award of Excellence, Presented by Joan [sic]
Churchill, Awarded to Jaime Myles, This 5th Day October
2018.” Included with the plaque is a copy of a letter from Virtual
Justice.
The city uses their
software to process court cases and track fine payments. Churchill
stated that Virtual Justice, “Monitors everything she does.”
One of the results
of Myles balancing the court accounts is the payment of overdue
fines. The fine payments are divided between the police department,
the general fund and the court fund; with the bulk going to the
police department. That additional revenue has been useful in funding
necessary improvements to the department.
Another copy of the
letter will be sent to Arkansas Legislative Audit. The state annually
audits the bookkeeping procedures of both municipal and county
governmental bodies.
Churchill said the
letter explains, “What she did, and it was an amazing
accomplishment.”
“One of the things
that I want to do before I leave is to have a good pure audit so that
our report at the end of the year is what this community deserves,”
Churchill said. “Every one of you are good at what you do and it's
been an honor to work with everyone.”
The dinner was
catered by Jordan’s Bar-B-Q and Catfish Catering. The menu
consisted of chicken, catfish, fries, hush puppies, slaw, fried pies,
and ice cream. Everyone went home stuffed.
