City of Alexander Police Sergeant Nick Johnson was named 2019
Employee of the Year. The award was presented to Johnson by Mayor
Paul Mitchell at the Fourth Annual Mayor’s Award Dinner held
Friday, September 20.
Department heads
also handed out awards to deserving employees in other categories.
How to choose the recipients, however, was a constant theme
throughout the evening.
During one of the
mayor’s weekly meetings with department heads Mayor Mitchell,
“[A]sked each of the department heads to think about the city
employees and comment on which one had done the most for their fellow
employees across the entire city,” Assistant Police Chief Richard
Harper said describing how Employee of the Year was chosen. “A
conversation ensued and unanimously they thought of Nick Johnson.”
Before Mayor
Mitchell presented the Employee of the Year award to Sergeant
Johnson, Harper described Johnson’s accomplishments this past year.
“The biggest thing
that Nick’s done this year is he solved a problem that we had with
tracking of citations, arrests, misdemeanor case files, and traffic
citations; which doesn't sound like a big deal,” Harper began.
“But, it was so messed up that it caused a rift between the police
department, the court clerk's office, the judge, and the prosecutors.
And, it was actually starting to affect citizens as well; people
getting charged for things two different times. So, Sergeant Johnson,
on his own initiative, developed the tracking system for arrest
warrants, criminal traffic citation and case files that completely
eliminated this problem. This was something that we've been hit on
state audits on, so his efforts completely eliminated that problem
and has gone the farthest to do something for everyone in the city.”
“In 2018 we
promoted Nick to sergeant and in his promotion letter he was given
the following responsibilities,” Harper said. “It read, ‘Equally
important to your duty to guide subordinates is your duty to provide
blunt and honest feedback to the chain-of-command, when necessary, to
help them better serve our citizens and our police officers.’ Nick
Johnson is very good at providing blunt feedback, if any of y'all
know him, and we rely on that. And, he's not only fulfilled those
duties … he's been a mentor to all the employees of the city and we
just like to thank you for that.”
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Mayor Paul Mitchell presents Employee of the Year Award
to Sergeant Nick Johnson.
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“If he has any
adversity in his life, which he has quite a bit, you can always count
on him to be at work,” Mayor Mitchell said before presenting
Johnson with the award. “No matter what happens it amazes all of
us. He could be in the hospital, for instance, next day he’s at
work. So if nothing, that is dedication. When you could very well
take time off, or use it (sick leave) for that, but he prefers to be
at work. So we all decided as a group, myself and all the department
heads, that he was the guy (to receive the award).”
Reading the
inscription on the award Mitchell said, “The City of Alexander
Mayor’s Employee of the Year award, presented to Sergeant Nick
Johnson on this date September 20 of 2019 by Mayor Paul Mitchell for
outstanding dedication and service to the City of Alexander.”
“Thank you for all
you do,” Mitchell added.
Turning the awards
ceremony back over to Assistant Police Chief Richard Harper the issue
of how to choose an award recipient came up again.
“Just about every
year that Chief (Robert) Burnett and I have been in leadership, here
at the department, it's been a difficult task to decide on the
Officer of the Year,” Harper said. “It's always difficult because
the outstanding work that our our people do; lives saved with CPR,
personal property recovered, repairing a broken K-9 program as Nick
(Johnson) did, repairing a broken Reserve Program as Sergeant
McKeever did, or just being there to let citizens know they have a
voice.”
Harper said he and
Chief Burnett tried to devise a way to whittle down the group to a
smaller number of officers to make the selection process easier.
Their first option was to disqualify everyone who had any type of
disciplinary action.
“So I went down
the list of officers and what I found was that each and every one of
us, not only including but especially the Chief of Police and the
Assistant Chief of Police, had at a bare minimum had a lengthy and
colorful butt-chewing, or verbal counseling, which is allowed
sometimes; colorful counseling meant to correct perceived or actual
performance deficiencies,” Harper said. “So that plan didn't
work.”
It was at the weekly
department head meeting, during which the Employee of the Year was
chosen, that Harper says his dilemma was solved. He took the Mayor’s,
“[W]hich one had done the most for their fellow employees across
the entire city,” concept and applied it to the police department.
“Which police
officer went the farthest to ease the burden on their fellow police
officer,” Harper said. “Which one’s work went the farthest to
ease burden on leadership. And, which officer’s work went the
farthest to ease the suffering and bring relief to the most crime
victims.”
Detective Jessica
Burnett (formerly Hill) was selected as the Alexander Police
Department’s Officer of the Year.
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Detective Jessica Burnett (L) and
Assistant Police Chief Richard
Harper.
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“Detective
Burnett’s work this year has helped the Alexander Police Department
administration build infrastructure that frees patrol officers from
the time-consuming evidence handling and case file management tasks;
allowing them to focus on preventing and disrupting criminal activity
through proactive police work,” Harper said reading from the
certificate. “Through her case file management, affidavit and
warrant writing ability Detective Burnett has this year proven to
judges (and) prosecutors that the Alexander Police Department is now
a highly capable professional law enforcement agency. Detective
Burnett this year recovered three stolen vehicles, three stolen
firearms and more than $200,000 of personal property taken from the
citizens of Alexander, Bryant, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Cabot, and
surrounding rural communities. Administrators inherited from previous
leadership of this department an evidence vault which housed items
from resolved and unresolved cases; ranging from homicide to criminal
mischief. The vast majority of these cases have been resolved years
ago yet the evidence remained in the locker. Upon being signed as
evidence custodian Detective Burnett researched hundreds of criminal
cases and scribed, by hand, data from those cases for more than 1,000
pieces of evidence. She then developed a spreadsheet to help organize
the evidence and formulate a comprehensive order of destruction for
presentation to a judge. Her efforts were validated and praised by
both the prosecuting attorney and the judge. Thanks to detective
Burnett’s efforts we now have an efficient evidence system. This
year's been a trial by fire for Detective Burnett with regard to
sexual assault investigations and as usual she has rose to the
occasion. Her tireless dedication to the residents of Alexander has
provided closure and promoted healing for dozens of child and adult
victims of sexual abuse. In a very short period of time she has
forged partnerships with Arkansas State Police Crimes Against
Children Division and many domestic violence outreach programs. Her
efforts have closed the terrible gap in the violence and sexual abuse
investigation services that existed in this community for a long
time. Detective Burnett’s tireless dedication of her team and the
residents of our community bringing great credit upon herself and all
who serve in law enforcement. Congratulations. Assistant Chief
Richard Harper.”
Harper then moved on
to the final police department award, Police Supervisor of the Year.
This year the award goes to Sergeant Brandon McKeever.
“Brandon McKeever
came to work for Alexander Police Department as an experienced patrol
officer during the time when the staff and the infrastructure of our
department was being completely overhauled by Chief Burnett,”
Harper said reading from the certificate. “His loyalty and can-do
attitude and willingness to mentor less experienced officers resulted
in his promotion to sergeant over the patrol division in 2017. Every
year Sergeant McKeever contributes immeasurably to the training and
readiness of the officers in his charge. This year he led by example
in professional appearance and proactive law enforcement. Despite his
heavy supervisory responsibilities Sergeant McKeever led the
department himself initiated DWI arrests and was the go-to police
officer for the hard-to-find hard-to-catch fugitives and stolen
vehicles in the city. Sergeant McKeever chaired the police officer
interview panel resulting in hiring eight highly capable auxiliary
police officers and two full-time police officers. As the pro front
line supervisor and auxiliary program manager he ensured three
thousand-plus citizens of Alexander had 24/7 police coverage with
only four full-time patrol officers and eight auxiliary officers; all
of whom have professional commitments outside the department. This
year the department schedule is stretched nearly to the breaking
point by mandatory training, illnesses of officers and their family
members, military commitments of our two Armed Forces members, and a
lack of funds for overtime that would be used to cover the gaps. On
multiple occasions the patrol schedule would need to be changed two
or three times in a single day. No matter what scheduling challenge
was presented to Sergeant McKeever at any given hour of his
sleep-cycle he would simply respond to me, ‘We'll get it handled.’
And, every day for the past year that's what he's done.”
“Congratulations
on a job well done and thank you for the work that you do that lets
me [sic] and Rob go to sleep at night,” Harper said to McKeever.
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Police Chief Robert Burnett (L) and Sergeant Brandon
McKeever. Gumby
pin in inset.
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“One word to
describe Sergeant McKeever’s work ethic is an ability that's
flexible,” Harper said to explain McKeever’s nickname, “Sergeant
Gumby.”
While explaining
McKeever’s nickname Harper was pinning him with an official Gumby
pin.
“It took me a long
time to find that, and it's vintage, so don't break it,” Harper
said. “It cost more than the award.”
“The reason these
guys do what they do is because the city works as a team together,”
Mitchell said before introducing the next department head. “And,
I'm proud of every department, everything that they do and how they
do it.
Fire Department
Chief Mark Ridgeway was up next. He too had a similar problem
choosing Firefighter of the Year. Standing next to him was Assistant
Fire Chief Noah Harrison.
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Firefighter Heath Goins (L) and Fire Chief Mark Ridgeway.
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“We were trying to
think of who would be the best candidate for firefighter of the
year,” Ridgeway said. “Kind of along the same lines; who didn’t
get wrote up, were suspended or whatever the case may be. This
firefighter, he's done a great job for us. If we need something he
does it. He's pretty handy. Couldn’t think of a better candidate
this year.”
This year’s
Firefighter of the Year is Heath Goins, who almost didn’t attend
the awards dinner. Chief Ridgeway had to convince Goins to attend
without spilling the beans.
“He was not coming
tonight,” Ridgeway said. He just had ... surgery,” and “[J]ust
got released to come back to light duty Monday.”
Ridgeway also
inaugurated a new award category this year, the Chief’s Award. The
first recipient of the award is Assistant Fire Chief Noah Harrison.
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Assistant Fire Chief Noah Harrison (R) and
Fire Chief Mark Ridgeway.
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“Assistant Chief
Harrison, he's done a lot for me; took a lot of weight off of my
shoulders” Ridgeway said. “He keeps up with scheduling, sick
time, keeps the guys in line when I'm not around, doing stuff for the
mayor, or whatever I need to do. He's just helped me out tremendously
with everything ... so I’d like to present (Assistant) Chief
Harrison with the Chief’s Award.”
Streets/Parks
Department
Supervisor David
Durham was
the final department head to present awards.
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Rod Chapman (L) and David Durham.
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“As you know we
have a small parks and recreation department and street department,”
Durham said.
“But, I do have two guys that I rely on a whole lot and they go
above and beyond all the time. Any time I call them they're there.
Anything we need; everybody knows you can always stop the white
truck, they'll do whatever they need to for anybody. And, I just
wanted to let my guys know how much I appreciate them and what they
do for the citizens; what they do for me.”
The first
Certificate of Appreciation for Job Performance award was presented
to Rod Chapman. Until this year street department staff would also be
used to work in the city park. Because working hours had to be kept
separate between streets and parks, starting in the 2019 budget
Chapman is listed as a Parks Department employee. He does help the
street department when needed.
“I just want to
let you know Rod how much I appreciate you for all you do for me and
for everybody in the city,” Durham said.
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Kyle Martin (L) and Streets/Parks Department
Supervisor David Durham.
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Street Department
employee Kyle Martin was also presented with a Certificate of
Appreciation for Job Performance. Martin is one of the more recent
additions to the department.
“My right hand in
the street department,” Durham said. “He has helped me a lot in a
very short period of time. He's not afraid to take on anything and
he's gonna be a great asset for the city.”
“Mr. Mayor, I want
to thank you for all you do for us in our little street and parks
department,” Durham continued. “And all the council members,
thank you so very much for all your help. We couldn't do it without
you.”
Before
Mayor Mitchell could end the festivities his wife,
Genny Mitchell, stepped up
to present him with a gift
certificate.
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Genny Mitchell (L) and Mayor Paul Mitchell.
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“From the Sons
and Daughters of God Bible Study,
we would like to recognize you and tell you thank you and that we
appreciate all that you do in community outreach,” Genny Mitchell
said. “Thank you so much.”
“One reason why I
try to gather up everyone here for dinner, me and my wife want to pay
back to the employees of the city,” Mayor Mitchell said earlier in
the evening. “Things that they do, they take a load off of me. I
don't have to worry about have [sic] hands-on on everything because
these guys are handling the job (and) they're personnel; so they're
not always coming to me. They do a good job.”
