Okay, well, welcome everybody to our service awards.

This is a great group of people.

I love seeing everybody today.

This is one of the days we look the most forward to out of the entire year.

And why is that?

Because we get to recognize all the wonderful people that we have that work for us.

We've got about 810 employees, depending on the day.

And uh it's an amazing group.

I mean, I I say it all the time.

Mayor says it all the time, the council members do.

Um I've said it today at two different events.

Um we've got the best people anywhere.

There is no question.

I mean, as I said, uh one event this week.

I mean, we've got people that could go work anywhere, anywhere.

I mean, we've got that quality.

And so I really appreciate, and I know the citizens appreciate all of you working for us in this community, being the great public servants you are.

And I do say public servants to everybody, because everybody that chooses to work for a local government and spend a lot of their life doing that, it's a calling.

Uh, it is something that you definitely are serving the public every day.

I mean, I don't care if you're in an office, you're out on the road, uh, you've got a uniform on, you don't, uh, you got a hard hat on, whatever you're doing.

Um, you are serving the public.

Um, and so thank you.

I know you don't get thank yous all the time.

Some of you get them a lot from what I've seen.

But uh I want to thank you for all the citizens and the the residents, the people who uh do business here.

Um they uh you know they talk to a lot of us, you know, when we're social gatherings, whatever else, and all we hear is good things.

I mean, really, all we hear is great things about the people that work for us.

And so it is a privilege.

I mean, a real privilege for all of us to serve with you.

And uh I'm I'm honored to be here today to recognize a lot of you for that service.

But the first thing I get to do is thank the people that uh have me here, which I want to thank greatly, and that's our city council and the mayor.

Um I know we went through some elections, uh, we've finally gotten that over with, so now we know who's gonna be there going forward.

And uh I'm very delighted to be able to say that our mayor will still be our mayor for the next four years.

And congratulations, Mayor.

And it's been a real pleasure to work for him.

He's very uh devoted to this community, devoted to the school system, devoted to our employees, devoted to everything that is Marietta, and you can see that with him every day.

So it's a great pleasure to introduce our mayor, Steve Thunder Tumblr.

Well, thank you.

This is like you say, probably the most special day in this city hall that we have every year, you know, recognizing the good job that you do.

Uh Bill talked about being devoted.

I'm looking to people that are really devoted.

In fact, I didn't know y'all were so pretty until today, so I'm proud of how y'all dress up and look good.

But this is uh as we all know, it's blessed, more blessed to give than receive, even though receiving is a lot of fun.

But uh y'all give every day of the year.

To make me to the citizens of Marietta to make this just a better place to live, to work, to play, to raise a family, to have your favorite pets.

I mean, this is just uh it's a delight.

But each one of you with your own particular skill, add to what what a great city this is, and this is a day we'd like to recognize your contribution in this year-in celebration of you working for the city of Marietta.

God bless you.

I would like joining me in those comments.

Audrey Sims, Councilman Andre Sims, uh Councilman Carl Al Kent, Mr.

Gosen, uh Joseph Gosteen, and Johnny Walker.

Is it is there another councilman?

Like Johnny, if you don't mind just come up, I think we collectively would like to say what we do, but uh we'd like to thank him.

You have me coming.

Yes.

So um it's just an honor to see all of these nice smiling faces here today.

And um, you know, without you guys, we really don't have the city, to be honest with you.

It's because of the work and the dedication that you guys have for the city of Marietta that makes us thrive.

So congratulations to everyone, and uh we'll we'll see who gets awards and all that good stuff as well.

Y'all want to see first?

Yeah, I'd like to uh mainly thank all of y'all.

The last 12 years has been amazing, and it's because of y'all, and um y'all made me look good, and I will be indebted to y'all forever.

It's been a great 12 years.

This M stands for Marietta, but it also stands for much love to each of y'all.

Thank you.

I just want to say thank you all very much.

Y'all are the ones that are getting stuff done on the day-to-day.

Um you all do a lot to make sure this is one of the this is the best city that we have, the best city we have, and I'm glad, and I'm just glad to say glad to be able to work with y'all.

And uh thank y'all very much.

Enjoy the enjoy the holidays and look forward to more good work next year.

Good evening.

Thank you for your service to the city.

Um I'm proud to say that I represent my ward and also the city of Marietta.

And you can see I'm dressed in the in the uh BLW.

I wanted to identify with the workers because I've been where you are, where I worked in in a position, and I loved what I did, and it's nothing wrong with that, but if you aspire to do more, you can.

And uh so I just want to say thank you for what you do, thank you for your service.

There's admiration for you and what you do for the city of Marietta.

Thank you.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Appreciate your service.

Thank you for everything you're doing for us.

And Mr.

Walker, we appreciate you more than you can understand.

Um you've been an excellent council member.

Uh you're you're just you're an icon in the community, and uh I know you will still be a great supporter of Marietta as you go forward in your life.

And uh, yeah.

Absolutely.

Um we also would like to uh recognize our uh retirees, and I know this is always a fun one because you know we have this list of retirees, and most of them, you know, they're on a cruise or they're out having fun, you know, traveling or seeing family, especially this time of year and all that.

But we definitely want to recognize them all and see who we have here.

Uh the first uh we have is Senior Police Officer John Atkins.

And then the next we have Fire Lieutenant uh Marshal Appenzeller.

And then we have police officer David Ald.

Fire Assistant Chief, Matthew Bolin.

Police Lieutenant Matthew Bueller.

I know this one's here.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

We're also gonna give you a proclamation.

But Rich is some of y'all were here for his celebration that we had recently, but Rich has served us for over 30 years as the director of Parks Wreck and Facilities.

So I want to thank him for the outstanding service that he's given us.

Thank you, Rich.

Next, we have Shelley Drury in purchasing.

Ty Griner, a field technician.

Douglas Marler, Network Services Manager.

Rusty Roth, Director of Development Services.

I don't know.

Um Howard Satterfield, uh manager of Skills Trades Technicians.

And Tom Sines, fire prevention lieutenant.

James Thomason, street supervisor.

No.

No.

Okay, John, do you get to grab a picture with us?

We are well.

You represent all your beers, right?

Thank y'all.

Now's the time that, you know, we uh we uh hate to have to do this, but we do have people that you know leave us each year that are either part of the group that we have currently working or that have retired or left us, and uh do pass on.

So I'd like for everybody to join uh me in remembrance of these wonderful folks as you see their picture and think about the times that you had with them, hopefully real uh fun times that you had that you can have great memories with the sort.

Thank you for that moment of silence.

We now would like to uh talk about years of service.

This is always one where the numbers when I look at it, I I just can't believe it.

It's amazing how many years of service we always have.

Uh but today, and I ask you to go ahead and stand uh when I call off the years of service.

If you're here, we have twenty-four employees that are gonna receive their five-year pens today.

Any of the five years here.

Very good.

Okay, congratulations.

We got okay, we got a bunch of you.

Good.

Well, congratulations.

Uh then we have six that are gonna get their ten-year award, and I know a lot of these.

Um if you're getting your ten, stand up.

We have fourteen that are getting their fifteen year award.

Please stand if you're getting that.

And we have twenty uh year award winners.

We have sixteen of those.

If you get in your twenty, please stand.

Some good company there.

And uh 30-year awards, we got three people getting their thirty.

And in kind of rarefied air, we've got one person receiving their thirty-five year award.

If that person's here.

So we're actually we're well over a thousand.

Uh we're at twelve hundred and twenty-five years of service uh with all those folks.

So I want to thank you so much for everything all of you do and all those folks that are working up to those numbers.

Now it's time to recognize uh some great individuals.

I think everybody in here is deserving of an award, but uh you've got to pick somebody every year.

And uh it's really hard.

Uh there are so many good nominations.

Uh we really could give probably three, four times the amount of awards with the nominations we receive on people.

Uh but you've got it, you gotta narrow it down.

So um I'm glad that you know anybody on that list would have been awesome.

These people really stood out, and you'll understand why uh when I read off what they've done, but uh they are just some great examples of um married employees that are doing the best they can and are helping others and are setting the example going forward.

So the first one we're gonna do is the employee of the year.

And the employee of the year uh needs to be a guidepost for others, daily exhibiting standards of excellence that all of us should try to achieve.

Uh the individual can uh not be a supervisor.

Uh the individual is supposed to set high standards in all areas, such as positive attitude, stellar work performance, outstanding customer service, dedication to their job, and also is a good ambassador for the city.

The additional criteria for receiving the award, does not hold a supervisory or managerial position, consistently displays a pleasant, helpful, and professional attitude, daily sets a good example for others in all areas of work, and also the interpersonal skills in dealing with each other.

Frequently offers to assist others, willing to go the extra mile when it's needed, volunteers their services wherever is needed, uh, does not wait to be asked, creates an atmosphere of cooperation and teamwork that is infectious and I know that we all would appreciate.

Obviously, enjoys their work and represents the city as a goodwill ambassador every day.

Now, if you've won this award in the past, uh would you please stand up?

This is the employee of the year.

Anyone in here that's won that?

Congratulations.

Glad to have you with us.

Okay, now it's time to find out who the employee of the year is.

The City of Mary is proud to announce this individual is the 2025 employee of the year, honoring their extraordinary compassion, leadership, and innovation in shaping, and here's where it gets to where you kind of know who it is, in shaping the Marietta Police Department's Crisis Response Canine Program.

Through their work with their Comfort Canine, Barney Bart Bart partner Barney, they sorry, Barney.

Um he has transformed the way our community supports children experiencing trauma, providing emotional stability during crisis, comforting students in hospitals and classrooms, and offering strengths and moments of grief.

His dedication goes far beyond traditional policing.

He mentors students, teaches emotional regulation and empathy, conducts trauma-related forensic interviews, and builds trusted relationships across the school system, including with my wife who's a teacher.

His selflessness, his service, his personal investment in maintaining the K9 program and unwavering commitment to healing and hope, embody the highest ideals of public service.

His impact is not only felt in citations or arrests, but more importantly, in the countless lives he and Barney have quietly and compassionately touched throughout our community.

The recipient of the employee of the year for 2025 is Paul Hall, senior police officer, married a police department.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

And she's got some.

Paul is what we call a superstar at the Marietta Police Department, what he brings to the table every single day when it with the school children in our community, the staff, the teachers, everyone.

He's just he's a hero to us, and we're very, very proud to have him.

Okay.

If y'all know me, I know I don't talk a whole lot.

But uh so first uh I want to thank my family.

This is my wife Amanda.

Uh his mother, uh my son Peyton, my daughter Miley, my in-laws, uh father-in-law Joe.

Kind of we don't call them that very often.

I've kind of had to think of what their name is because uh and then uh my mother-in-law Terry.

We call them Moppy and Pap all, so I had to that's what they are in my phone.

Um so I'm very shocked.

Um but I'm very thankful.

Um I appreciate it.

I get to do what I love to do every day.

So I I feel fortunate that I get to be on the end of the leash.

I don't I don't really do much.

He's the one that does it all.

In the forensic interviews or any time, it's it's him.

He does things that humans can't do.

So I I feel lucky to this is my dream job.

Being a school resource service was my dream job.

I didn't know I could have a dream job on top of a dream job.

Um but I I look forward to coming to school every day.

I love what I do.

Um I I don't know where I would be without sacrifices they've made.

Um they they let me do some some, especially my wife let me do some crazy things that just come in my head like this.

Um they've been very supportive.

Supervisors have been very supportive.

Um everybody back here that you know, everybody back here had something to do with Barney.

They had to say yes to my crazy ideas.

Um so there's a lot, and the police department that had to say yes, had to get on board, had to understand what this is.

So I'm I'm very grateful to everybody that you know in the city as a whole, and the police department as a whole has kind of come around us and has been extremely supportive.

So I'm very thankful.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you.

Oh, and then of course.

Now, as you can see, we're gonna have some great award winners.

It's gonna be a lot of fun.

Um now the next one is actually the City Manager's Award, uh, which is something that I created a while ago because I just saw a kind of a void, an area that we needed to recognize some people in.

Uh, these are individuals who are doing a great job out there.

Sometimes they come up with programs, sometimes they implement programs.

Uh their workhorses that get out there and do great things for us every day.

And so the I've got a couple of them that actually I'm gonna give this time.

So I'm gonna give three people this award.

Uh the first is gonna be separate, and then the next two will be together.

The city of Marietta is proud to recognize this first individual is the recipient of the City Manager's Award under their outstanding leadership, innovation, and unwavering dedication to both the community and the men and women of the, and this is gonna narrow it down a lot, Married a Fire Department, a 22-year veteran, has strengthened the department through his mentorship, his authorship, his continual enhancement of the career development manual, and his creation of a streamlined recognition process that celebrates firefighters who go above and beyond.

His leadership was instrumental in revitalizing the Mary to Fire Fighters Support Fund, including the rebirth of the JW Fellenheim, Fellinbaum Gold Golf Classic to support the firefighters scholarship fund.

And they played a key role in guiding the department's transition to the new Portland work schedule, which I'm sure all the fire department is very happy about.

Uh whether managing complex emergency scenes and calm precision or driving long-term organizational growth with empathy, communication, and vision, this person exemplifies the high standards of public service.

It is with great honor that I'm able to recognize Ryan Brian Rutledge, Assistant Fire Chief, Marietta Fire Department.

And so whoever would like to speak.

Okay.

Uh so from the golf tournament to the support fund, I say thank you from the chief and everybody else.

Thank you.

And you get to introduce and say a few words.

Uh well, uh first of all, I'm honored.

Um, and as I see my family here, I think about my slow cooker, and then I put chicken tortilla soup in it this morning.

I don't know who's gonna finish up that meal since we're all we're all here.

Um individual awards are weird, like no nobody ever does anything uh by themselves.

Um you have mentors that teach you how, uh what and why you do things, and you have um uh peers who become friends that you can challenge and share ideas, and uh sorry.

Um, you have we have a department full of uh professional firefighters, and uh they really make me look good.

So uh this award has my name on it, but um it's for all those people.

Thank you.

As I said, we uh we had one individual.

We've got two others that are gonna win this award, but uh they're kind of a tag team, so we're gonna do it together.

Uh the City of Merit is proud to honor the next two individuals with the City Managers Award for their exceptional teamwork, adaptability, and transformative contributions to the Board of Lights and Water.

Following a challenging transition from IT and to new BLW roles, they dedicated countless hours to mastering the technical and operational complexities of the electrical department, quickly becoming indispensable partners in strengthening the utility.

Their collaboration and modernization of BLW infrastructure from jointly driving the grid logic project to enhance network visibility and reliability to rapidly executing critical cybersecurity upgrades required by new grant-funded initiatives.

Their unique blend of institutional knowledge and innovative IT experience has created a more secure, efficient and resilient utility system, and what they've been doing has been recognized not only locally but around the United States.

Beyond major projects, they both have consistently delivered high-level support across customer service care, engineering, operations, and even public works.

Troubleshooting complex issues with speed, teamwork, and a shared commitment to service.

Their combined efforts exemplify excellence, collaboration, and the spirit of the city managers award.

What I didn't ask before I did the last one, I will ask right now.

Um, who has won the city managers award before that's in here today?

Anybody?

Great.

Thank you.

There's some great people that just stood up.

So because of all these wonderful things that they have done, and I will say, and not only just what I said there, but when I say the names, you'll know them from other things too.

They're uh two wonderful people that help out wherever they can, and all of us have used them at different times to solve problems.

The first one is Hewlett Norville, relay engineer, Mary to Power.

And we'll we'll let Hewlett be talked about first, and then I'll name the next one.

Yeah.

Well, y'all can come on down.

And yes, that uh that description of him is extremely accurate.

He's done so much for our department and and really the whole BLW uh building things that uh has really transformed our industry and and definitely helped us win those awards like that technology uh city award.

Uh and really everything he does, he knows everything in and out, and and we'd be a little helpless without him at times.

So I definitely appreciate everything you do.

Thank you, Eric.

Please introduce your butts and uh say what's my wife Ariel, my son Riker and Clark.

Uh I want to thank both all of them for their support and uh me to do what I do and uh take care of the household for us.

And then uh thank everybody else for all your support and happy to keep doing what I do.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for coming.

Appreciate it.

As part of this uh wonderful effort to uh take us into new worlds of cybersecurity and a lot of other things on our digital transformation that we've been trying to do and the wonderful awards that we have won, uh, is the other half of this duo, and that is Suntron, uh network analyst, IT department.

Well, I'm filling it for Ronnie, so if I explained in detail what Son does every day, none of you guys would understand it.

So uh I'm the deputy director at IT, and I don't really understand it.

I know that when you call San, you guys know you spill on the support desk team, he's like that.

I actually called him today, I needed something, and in ten minutes he gets me what I need.

But um, he's really vital with you to Marietta Power.

I know you think alignment, customer, customer care, and those guys, and they all do a great job.

They're really on the back end behind there with the servers with our security for all the devices on our infrastructures, utility companies, they tend to get attacked, and uh these guys help make that safe.

So thank you, Son.

Appreciate it.

Uh this is quite a surprise.

I was really up here for mainly hewlett because I knew he was getting an award, and then you guys really snuck this one up on me.

Uh definitely would like to uh uh thank my wife for allowing me to do what I do, and I definitely like to thank all of y'all for for you all of your support and uh giving me the opportunity to help everybody here because I think and also helping our citizens here.

And I thought every day might when I go to work, uh it's not just about the paycheck, it's about being with everybody that's here and being able to uh have the opportunity to serve the community.

So that's a time that's all I wanted to say.

Thank you.

I'm glad that you guys.

The next award that we have is the Daryl Dickerson Marietta First Award.

And uh some of y'all actually uh knew Daryl.

Um Daryl actually uh created this award uh after working here for 38 years and then retiring.

Uh he was uh in the business license office and uh just did an amazing job for us in a lot of different ways.

Um he was actually uh one of our uh face-forward folks that went out and uh helped with annexations, which is kind of interesting when you think of the business license office.

But uh he was such a personable individual that we put him on the front line going out there talking to people and convincing them that you want to be a part of Marietta.

Um and that's just the way he was, but he wasn't only that way outside the office, he was that way inside the office to everybody.

I mean, he was one of those folks you loved meeting in the hallway uh and being able to talk to because he was always so positive.

So basically, after um Daryl retired, he sat around for a few years and then he came to me and said, uh, and this is in 2008, um, he came to me and said, Bill, I'd like to take some of my money and I'd like to put it in an award or something uh for the employees.

And uh first time I'd heard that.

Um that was pretty wild.

And so I said, well, okay, what do you want it to be?

I said, well, just anything to represent them and to give them something for being great people.

I was like, okay, well, this is good.

So I didn't tell him I was gonna name the award after him, but uh we went ahead and named it, the Daryl Dickerson Award, and uh we've been giving it ever since.

Um he finally uh um kept coming to the as many as he possibly could, uh, but then he passed in uh April of 2022.

But he lived to a great age of 91.

So uh he had a good full life, and a lot of us were blessed to be a part of that.

Um so if you have won uh this recognition before, the Darrell Dickerson Award, please be recognized.

Anyone in the room?

Yeah, we do.

And this next person is going to be recognized for many reasons, but let me say what Daryl said himself about why somebody should get this award.

It should be in recognition of employees who consistently put Marietta and its employees first and serve it as an example to others by working tirelessly to ensure Marietta is a better place for its citizens and employees.

The City of Marietta is proud to recognize the recipient of the 2025 Daryl Dickerson Award, who has dedicated more than 10 years to serve in the city with patience, kindness, and a warm smile that employees and retirees deeply appreciate.

They are instrumental in ensuring smooth, accurate, and seamless onboarding and separation processes.

It's getting closer.

Working closely with HR and departments across the organization with professionalism and a strong commitment to service.

Their exceptional dedication was especially evident this year as they partnered with the fire department through a major scheduling transition, providing the accuracy, responsiveness, and adaptability needed to make the change successful.

And I ran into this person right after she found out she was going to have to do this.

And she looked a little stunned, but I knew she could handle it and she can get it done.

And she did.

She truly embodies the spirit of the Daryl Dickerson Award through her responsive positivity, reliability, and genuine care for others.

And we are very grateful for her outstanding service to the City of Marietta, both externally and internally.

The Daryl Dixon Married of First Award recipient for 2025 is Shannon Pilgrim, payroll supervisor finance department.

So we in the finance department can't be prouder of Shannon.

If you've met Shannon, you've probably been met with a very warm smile.

And what can I do to help you?

Shannon has been with us 10 years.

And everyone that comes into contact with Shannon leaves her office regardless of the situation, feeling better than what they can't when they came in.

So we can't speak more highly of her and what she's done and sacrificed and continues to sacrifice for our department.

So we're very happy to have her.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

This is quite a shock.

I'm not one that likes the spotlight or limelight, but I'm one to um be personal and friendly to people, and as Patina and Bill said, I try to go out of my way to help and accommodate and make sure that every everybody within the city gets what they need.

And taken care of the best way possible.

But the best part of that is to reiterate what he said earlier, working for the city of Marietta and its people is what make it great.

So I couldn't do this without y'all.

So thank you.

Okay.

Now we move on to the uh supervisor of the year, and that is the Alex G.

Newsom Memorial Award.

And uh some of you there again, some of you would have known uh Mr.

Newsom.

He worked for us for 35 years, and he finally retired in 1990 as the superintendent of electrical services.

Now, he was the type of individual who was known for not only being very dedicated and experienced and knowing what he needed to do every day, but he was a real leader uh among the people he worked with, but also a leader in the community.

Um of the things that he did, I just wanted to highlight this time.

Um perfect timing on this, that he would spearhead an effort to acquire toys and other needed items for Christmas for City and BLW employees uh who really couldn't afford uh to get them.

Uh he did this anonymously, didn't want credit for it, but he made sure that all the kids got toys.

He would also offer his abilities as an electrician, which he was a good one, uh, to the poor or elderly in Marietta at no charge.

He didn't want recognition for that either.

He would just go and help people.

That's the kind of leader he was from his actions and what he did every day.

At the service awards ceremony in 1991, the first Alex Newsom Memorial Award was given to Bobby Frazier, also electrical distribution, with Alex's wife and children in attendance.

The recipients of this award are very special people indeed.

It is a great honor simply to be nominated because you're nominated by those around you.

The winners of this award, like its namesake, are an inspiration to everyone in the city and are to be commended for their outstanding service and dedication to the citizens and customers of the city.

Please see in a program your complete listing of all the previous recipients.

But if you are one of those previous recipients, please get recognized.

Great choices then and another great choice today.

The criteria for the Alex G.

Newsom Memorial Award is open to any city or BLW employee in a supervisory position, but you gotta have five years or more of service.

Respected and admired by supervisors and peers.

Got to demonstrate the willingness to go beyond what is required to make sure the job is done.

You consistently provide willing and courteous service to the citizens and customers.

You're noted for being fair and impartial, very important when dealing with employees.

You truly enjoy your job, demonstrates dedication and loyalty to the city, provides a good role model for others, and is also importantly a good teacher of skills.

The City of Marriott is proud to recognize the recipient of the 2025 Alex Newsom Memorial Award, who brings, and this is kind of crazy, who brings over 49 years of local government experience, and has served, here we go, as the deputy director of public works operations since 2018, overseeing approximately 85 employees across fleet sanitation streets and traffic.

This person is a hands-on leader who has successfully guided major initiatives as the fleet building expansion, but also the really wild one, the citywide roll cart conversion, which we were all worried about, and improved sanitation routing for greater efficiency, known for their fairness, professionalism, and exceptional customer service, even in challenging circumstances.

He leads with a focus on safety, accountability, and mentorship while supporting the growth and well-being of their staff, which is very important.

As a key member of the city's emergency response team, they remain steadfast in their dedication to protecting and serving the community.

His leadership commitment to innovation and deep devotion to public service makes him a deserving recipient of this year's Alex Newsom Memorial Award.

I will say, when I said that 49 years, we stole him from an adjacent government.

So we were very happy to bring him over and let him continue his wonderful career with us.

It is a great pleasure that I announced that the 2025 Alex G.

Newsom Memorial Award recipient is Mr.

Scott Stokes, Deputy Director of Public Works Public Works College.

You sat all the way there.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Come on up.

Mark, please.

Scott truly embodies all of the characteristics, characteristics of this award as Bill read.

He likes to be behind the scenes, not in the limelight.

But while he's doing that and standing behind the scenes, he's constantly mentoring and leading the employees and training them and teaching them the proper way of doing things.

While at the same time making sure that all of our citizens are taken care of the proper way.

So I know he's going to kill me later for putting him in for this award because he doesn't like this limelight, but they could not be a more worthy recipient for this award.

Congratulations, Scott.

We'll do the introductions first.

My great wife.

Son, Richard, he works for Marietta, thank goodness.

Chris, my other son, his wife, Lisa.

Noah.

And the other little one is uh Carter.

I appreciate this.

And I really don't have a whole lot to say other than I I work for a great bunch of folks.

A great team.

Uh you know, I came from another city, like Mr.

Bruton said.

Uh I was there almost 40 years.

But I tell you what, I rather have worked for this city first than that city first.

This is a great city, great bunch of people, and a great organization.

And I really appreciate everything you do for me and uh whatever I can do for you.

Thanks.

The next award is the Rising Star Award.

This is one that we also created because we needed a way to really recognize those people that come into our organization and have been here a shorter period of time, maybe you know, two years or so.

And uh they really, though, um kind of shine uh in their profession.

They're people that stand out, they're folks that we think are gonna be later in their life getting an award like that uh from all of us as they continue in their career.

So uh this is a great opportunity for us to pinpoint those great individuals.

Um this award, I've got multiple people also that are gonna get this, and so I've actually got three different individuals that'll be receiving this one.

Um, this first one is somebody that in a short period of time has done uh a great amount of good for us, and this individual is I how do I say it without saying it?

Um this individual is somebody who came in and was given uh a responsibility that they were not even really working for that particular group at that time.

Uh but they knew we knew they were doing well in another area of the city, and uh they were highly recommended.

And uh this individual who is a she um took over the responsibility and uh really just uh amazed us all with what she was able to come up with as far as promotion uh and uh getting everything organized and uh figuring out how to make the most money out of the organiz uh of the thing that she's in charge of and also running it uh with a small staff, very small staff, but doing an amazing job with it.

The first person that we want to recognize that we are extremely happy to say is Jessica Giancola, director of the Gone with the Wind Museum.

Congratulations.

Sorry, so I'm from Kenneth Austin.

I'll jump in and say something about it first.

That's all right.

She was gonna say something better than what I'm about to say.

Um, I'll just say uh Jessica is one of the most uniquely talented people.

Um she has this interesting background that you might think of.

You might think of somebody who loves history and who loves museums.

She has that.

Uh but she also has a property management background.

And if you know anything about Brumby Holland Garden, that's an incredible asset for us to have.

Uh she also has the ability to uh she's an artist and she's creative, and so she's coming up with new ideas all the time.

Um so I just appreciate that.

And then uh last but not least, um, for those of you who don't know, uh Gone with a Wind has a rabid fan base of very difficult people.

And uh and they're wonderful, and we appreciate them, uh, but they are not the easiest to navigate and to say on their good side.

Uh they're called Wendy's, and she has just jumped in, and every time I meet with her, she has a list of things uh that she has accomplished and a list of places that she's going.

Uh and so I'm just very appreciative that um we have identified uh we correctly identified her as uh somebody who would be an outstanding executive director.

And uh now I'll turn it over uh for her to say some better words than what I just said.

So thank you.

Thank you guys.

Um I'm absolutely shocked.

I'm shaking.

Um I have always wanted to work for the city of Marietta, and I'm just living my dream every day.

I have a support of my amazing family who helps set out tables and chairs and supports my crazy ideas.

And under the mentorship of Amy Reed and my family over at the History Center.

I'm just living my dream every day.

So thank you for letting me do it.

And thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

We've got two more to go, two more fun ones to go.

Now the next individual is somebody who uh came in to a team of individuals and uh has a lot of skill, uh, but they really uh expanded our use of technology, expanded what we're able to do, has all kinds of uh personal ability uh in doing different things, and so is really uh brought a new uh level of what we're able to accomplish within our departments.

They've developed uh several impactful dashboards, including uh economic development dashboard and others that we have in the city.

But uh basically, if you were to describe this individual, you would say that they have are a technician beyond to compare uh that is able to come in, and if you have an idea of what you want to accomplish, they're able to make it happen.

And so that's one of the reasons why when we talk about the fact that we're the number one digital city in the country.

Well, it's because of individuals like this.

So I'm very happy to say that Brody Bear, GI analyst with the IT department, is our next award winner.

Congratulations.

Very delicious.

Thank you.

He's shown to be a very valuable asset to our GIS team.

He works on maps and drones and IT applications.

And if you put in a request, he's gonna ask you a lot of questions and try to really get the best solution.

Um he serves as drone chair of an organization and has already won two awards this year.

If you look in your pamphlet, you'll see that.

Um we're just glad to have him.

And congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um really, I mean, I can't do it without the people behind me.

We got my future wife Emily, my sister Chelsea, my dad, Bill, and my future mother-in-law Amy.

Without them, you know, I couldn't be able to do this.

And without a great department in IT, uh, they really put up with me and allow me the freedom to kind of go in the geospatial community and learn through there.

And I think that's been a big help for both the city and for me.

Um yeah, uh I look forward to continuing to work with you guys, and thank you again.

The next individual uh is of the same milk as the rest of the folks you've seen.

They've been a great addition to the city, and I will say in the finance department, bringing helpfulness, joy, and patience to every task.

They did an excellent job leading the RFP process for actuarial services, guiding the committee with confidence and clarity, despite having been with the city only a short time and working with people who had been in the city a long time with that.

Whenever unique procurement situation arises, they consistently work to find effective solutions, demonstrating a strong understanding of both departmental and citywide missions.

They've improved processes by implementing new procurement standards while adhering to the city and state codes and regulations.

They are a pleasure to work with, and I'll concur with that, and never shy away from rolling up their sleeves to get the job done.

Our third person is James Flynn, purchasing agent three finance department.

Oh, okay.

I will actually be accepting the award on behalf of James.

James had an appointment this morning that he could not get out of.

He's always working, and so he was unable to attend, but he wanted me to say thank you on behalf of him and the finance department.

James has been a great addition to our procurement department.

He's been with us for just over a year.

Um jumped in, you know, feet first, and you know anything we can do, um, anything he's can do for us.

He was willing to do, so we're excited and happy for him and look forward to his future with the City of Marietta.

Very good.

Okay.

He also volunteers in different ways in the community, and I know one of them that I'm happy about is a soccer coach, so uh for kids.

So that's good.

All right, we've also got a lot of uh special things that we want to talk about, but there's one I want to do first, which is something that uh we celebrated yesterday morning, uh, and we wanted to continue it today because we didn't have the item that we wanted to give yesterday morning, so we now we have it, and so we want to recognize one of our outstanding employees, and I will hand off to Miss Keisha Register.

Yes, if we can have uh Chief and Kelsey come down.

Um Michaela Peoples is the proud recipient of a Habitat for Humanity Home.

And the city manager has started a tradition for each homeowner.

Uh we purchase a sign.

So this is Michaela's first sign, a piece of Marietta in her home, and we hope that you have many, many years of blessings and happiness in your house.

And you have to open it in front of everybody.

That's kind of awkward, but yeah.

And so we started, so some of you may not know.

Uh, we actually started a program uh that we were able to use with federal money where uh we go in and work with the school system and work with Habitat for Humanity, and we're able to actually go out and take lots that are being underutilized in the city, and we're able to build houses.

And so we've been uh building these houses.

We've got our seventh one now that's this house, and between the school system and I think school system has three individuals, we have four individuals.

They have to qualify through Habitat, uh, and then they select the people, the recipients of the uh mortgage that they will be paying off, but it's uh a funded mortgage that uh is a good interest rate, and this will go up in her house representing her family.

Well, you can say a word or two.

Oh, no, no.

I know you had two yesterday.

I don't like giving speeches, thank you so much for everything.

I will say Kelsey's our sphere on this program.

She's the one that makes everything happen.

She took it on at the very beginning, and it's just been a godsend in this role, and uh is making people's lives better every day.

So yeah, we um got to celebrate Michaela yesterday, but I started working with her and her mom two years ago, and they are from Marietta, born here, grandparents are here, everybody's here, so they're able through this house to come back and live here, and so we just want to say welcome home.

Thank you.

Oh, yeah.

Now we'd like to have the presentation of uh service pens and service awards.

Um I know we've already had the 25 that we were talking about a little bit earlier, the individuals, but uh we're gonna go through it now uh and have our recognition of employees of 25 or more years of service.

And uh as I say every year, because it's written here, um the the um the different pens represent different levels of service, obviously.

Uh when you do five, ten, and fifteen year and then twenty, they're all gold.

When it goes over twenty, they go to silver.

You have different uh stones that are in each one of them, so it differentiates which year you are.

Um we also give away a regular pen, which we've got today, which says World of Thanks, City of Marietta BLW, which we really mean, absolutely, and hope you'll see that every day and understand how much we do appreciate what you do.

Um want to talk about uh the individuals, though, that we have that have um the serious levels of service here and would like to recognize them by name and have them come down up front.

Uh 40 years of service, Robin Priest in the electrical.

She's probably still working.

Um then uh thirty-five years of service, Steve Graham, BLW electrical.

Thirty years of service, Kimberly Coosey, BLW Customer Care.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

And Grant Foster with thirty years of service, Mary to police department.

And also with thirty years of service, Jason Watson, BLW Customer Care.

With twenty-five years of service, we have a lot of folks.

Um our first one is Timothy Cameron fire.

And also in fire, we have Jason Garner.

And then we have also in the police department, we have Alexander Melson with twenty-five years.

Congratulations.

And in the BLW electrical, we have Jeremy McGuire.

In the Parks Recreation and Facilities Department, we have Maggie Moss.

Um and then the public works department, we have Derek Tensley.

And BLW Water, Mr.

Christopher Reed.

In BLW Customer Care, Edgar White.

I'll let the mayor say the next one.

For twenty-five years of service, Mr.

Page Honor, Mr.

Bill Britain, twenty-five years of service.

Yeah, exactly.

Sorry.

Oh, we did.

I did.

Did I not say it?

Oh.

Well, everybody stay up here.

Stay up here a minute.

Stay up here.

Yeah, this is everybody come back.

Come back.

He's got to come back.

This is why I have to have a handler because I mess up.

Okay.

And of course, the most important one of us, Mr.

Shane Merritt Police.

You can get right in the middle of this picture.

Thank you all so much.

So all those folks you see walking upstairs have given a total of 415 years of service to the city and the Board of Lights and Water.

I want to thank all of them.

Absolutely for what they do, but I want to thank everybody that got uh recognized so far.

Um and then we're going to recognize a lot of other very worthy people as we go forward.

So please, if everybody can kind of stick around, we're going to give pins out to uh the rest of the folks.

And uh first we're going to start by having Johnny Walker come up and give a very special pin out.

And then the mayor will follow by giving another one.

Can anybody guess who this is for?

Well, this is a 15-year pin, but I believe he's got 16 years, but I'd like to present this to Mayor Steve Tumblr.

Okay.

Oh, okay.

Next year I would get the ride to the storm.

Okay.

So Betsy isn't here.

But you want to say something about Betsy?

She gets it.

Well, my assessment Betchi Kelly came in with me, but I think it should turn out I came in with her because she's uh has done a marvelous job as our assistant.

And she'd be here today, except her daughter is graduating from the University of Georgia.

And so if you'll grant me the privilege, go dogs.

But you know, I can't wait to honor Betty with this, because she's done us a great job.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you.

And I get to do some fun people now.

Uh these are folks with a 10-year experience.

And so the first one uh is somebody I could say things about all these people for days.

Um, but the first one is somebody who uh really helps me out tremendously, and I couldn't do without uh just uh has really excelled within the organization and is taking on more and more responsibility every day.

Uh somebody that is a rising star for sure, and that is Daniel Cummings with 10 years.

Stay up here, please.

And uh you know, we talk about great classes, this was a good class too.

Um the next one is somebody who uh you know is is everywhere, somebody who makes our city uh the happy place that it is, somebody that gets everybody involved, uh somebody that convinces me to dress up like this today.

Um for formal Friday, right?

Yeah, so um, but uh she just has been a blessing in so many ways and uh has done so many great things for uh employees, she cares about employees tremendously, and uh just I I don't know how she does it because um I I'm getting texts from her.

Uh I thought I was bad that I would do text on the weekends and at night to people and all that, and I'm just saying don't answer me to Monday.

Well, she's texting me during those times and telling me thanks.

Um so uh she just is always thinking about how to make the city a better place, and that is Miss Keisha Register.

And continuing this group of three that are just amazing people that are doing great things.

Um we uh stuh uh we sometimes we steal people from other cities, as you've heard today.

Um, this individual we did that with with another adjoining city, and uh, we were extremely happy to be able to get him in here, and uh there again.

I mean, I I just am amazed at what he has taken on, uh, how much he gets involved in in all kinds of projects, and uh he's always there wanting to jump in and assist.

But we are very pleased and honored to be able to say Mark Rice, come down for your 10.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

And an interesting note for those of you who are in the uh development class that we have now, leadership development.

We have a ton of people who were about at that 10-year amount that were in that development class that year that are now running things.

So uh, you know, go go people that are in it now.

You know, hopefully you'll be up here running it.

We want you to run it in the future.

Okay, next we have court and Kim Odom.

Um I'm Kim Odom from court.

I actually have two people today.

The first one is uh Kristen Bell.

She's our chief probation officer, and she's been here 15 years.

Uh one of the best probation officers in the state.

Uh she gets accolades from you know, appraises from people all over, and we are very blessed to have her in that position.

She is a huge asset to the department and to me, and a huge help to me in um everything that she does.

And we could not run that department without her.

So, Kristen, come on down.

The second pen that I have is for our prosecutor, uh Ben Smith.

He's been with us.

Uh he's getting his five-year pin today, but he has just barely passed his six-year mark with us.

Uh again, one of those essential people in our office.

We just could not do it without him.

He has uh he's been an asset to us since he came on board also.

Um he followed a prosecutor who was here for more than 30 years, so he had some big shoes to fill, and uh I think he's done a pretty good job of it.

Unfortunately, I don't see him here.

He was trying to get here from a previously scheduled appointment that he had.

So uh I'm gonna accept his pen on his behalf, and um he says thank you very much for all of your recognition.

And we have different departments within the BLW.

We'll start with customer care with Cherry Rashad.

Good afternoon.

Today we have uh one person that we're recognizing from our meters and services division with five years of service, Mr.

Worley Powell.

Sherry's been with her for ten years.

Just a few.

Everybody knows Sherry is our longest serving employee.

So thank her for that.

Uh next we have power, and that is with Eric Patton.

Glad to have uh a good group of guys and and ladies here in my group.

So, but first off, I want to start with our our safety manager, Barry Dillard with 20 years.

And then coming down for the second time, uh Hewitt Norville with twenty years.

Another foreman Randall Innskeep with fifteen years, and our tree supervisor, Sean Nelson with fifteen years.

Uh and then a few more that are here.

We have Nancy Schofield with fifteen years, our electrical coordinator.

You can definitely tell how much she does for everybody.

Uh we have one of our power control technicians, Bianca Bedford with ten years.

Another one of our foreman, Branson Mincy with ten years.

Our tree foreman Dan Yarger with ten years.

One more who's also not here today, but one of our OM technicians, uh, Greg Bryan with ten years.

And next we have water and sewer with Kim Holland.

Hey, I'm happy to be able to um recognize some of our awesome team over at water.

Um first is Mike Musser with twenty years.

Then we've got Eric Harman with fifteen years.

We've got Mike Eckerstrom with five years.

Jacob DeWoody with five years.

And I think our last one, Troy Monroe with five years.

I think he had to sneak out.

And next we have information technology, Mr.

Bruce Bishop.

Ronnie wanted me to wear a bow tie, but I don't have one, so we'll just go with this second.

Hey, with uh five years of service, the nicest guy in City Hall, Jim Carmichael.

With ten years of service, uh lady with a contagious laugh, Kelly Hansen.

With fifteen years of service, IT bodyguard William Mitcham.

Don't know where we wait.

And with twenty years of service, probably the best hire I ever made, Jeremy Wait, twenty years of service.

Congratulations.

And with finance, Patina Brown, would you come up with that?

So I have three um employees that are celebrating tenure with the city.

The first one received an award earlier today, and she'll be celebrating ten years.

And that's Shannon Pilgrim in our payroll department.

The next one that we have, um, both are from our business license division.

The first one we have is Kimberly Robinson.

We stole Kimberly from um City of Birmingham, and we've been happy to have her as our business license manager.

And Kimberly is celebrating five years.

And next we have Carissa Gallaghan.

Carissa is celebrating five years with us and was recently promoted to our business license inspector.

Moving on to economic development, Mr.

Daniel Cummings.

Thank you, Bill.

Development Services this year, we have one recognition.

Um and it is a twenty-year recognition, and oddly enough, it is our newest employee.

Um so Scott Lafar has a long-tenured um wonderful career with the Marietta Fire Department, and we were lucky enough to snag him over, and he joined our code enforcement team this past summer.

He's doing an except an exceptional job.

Um, but I thought it was fitting to ask DC Pacheco to come up as well since so much of his career with the city was spent uh with the MFD.

So Scott, come on down and get your twenty.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

And the next is going to be Parks Recreation and Facilities.

And as I call Eric Black, the acting director down, um, I would like to give this to him, but uh Rich Bus, come down here.

You can help give it to him, please.

So I'll first say good to see Rich today.

So in the six years I've known him, never seen him so relaxed.

So that's good to see him.

Yeah.

So appreciate you having being with us today, Rich.

Uh so we're gonna recognize uh three other people from our department.

Um I'll start at the top with the most and work my way down.

So uh first is uh with fifteen years of service, probably seems like longer to some people, uh Rich Deckman.

Yes, sir.

Next is uh with ten years of service, um our uh one of our supervisors, Christy Mise.

And then uh uh last with ten years of service, uh somebody you've probably rarely seen in dress pants, and that's uh Chuck Carter.

Yeah.

And then going to public works, Mr.

Mark Rice.

So with uh twenty years of service, uh Reggie Maiden.

Twenty years of service, Lucas All good and twenty years of service, Chad Hall.

Twenty years of service, Ricky Gibbs.

Fifteen years of service, Jeff Duckett.

Well, this is another one we stole from another city.

Uh five years of service, Jamie Newsom.

Five years of service, Joe Maxwell.

He's going to look good on the back of your truck.

Five years of service, Carlos Torres.

Carlos here.

Thank you very much.

We have uh fifteen of the MPD family that's being recognized today, some of which who couldn't be here, and that equals a hundred and thirty years of service between these fifteen individuals.

Officer Maria Funes, fifteen years, morning watch officer, so I'm sure she's not here.

Sergeant John Glenn, 15 years.

Don't see John.

Sergeant Jared Rakestraw, 15 years.

Jared was here earlier, and there he is.

Come on down, Jared.

Can you send it to me so I can send to her?

Officer Emilia Hines, 10 years.

And Officer Kenyon Jackson, 10 years.

I know they're both not here.

Support services technician Ralph Leet, 10 years.

I don't see Ralph.

Detective Joshua Coltharp.

Join us, Joshua.

That's fine.

I know this next one's not here.

Officer Wade Hambury, he's serving as country, the United States Marine Corps on active duty right now with five years.

Bailiff Gary Higgins, five years.

Officer Lane Lindsay, five years.

Officer Justin Russell, five years.

Bailiff Claude Tyrrell, five years.

And our public safety ambassador's uh supervisor, Katie Williams, with five years.

I don't believe Katie could be here today either.

But thank you.

And next we go to the fire department.

We always like applause.

Um next uh we go to the fire department with Deputy Fire Chief Joe Pichico.

You got your list.

I looked at the list.

I've got 10 individuals.

Um some of them are getting off a shift, uh, some are on currently on ship, so they may not be here, but I saw some of the people out there.

Um first is uh firefighter McCurak with 20 years.

Engineer McMillan with 20 years.

Uh I got uh Captain Mendel.

I didn't see him today.

Uh Firefighter Engineer Silva.

He got this morning, so probably not.

Engineer Talent, those are all with 20 years.

Don't think so either.

Uh Engineer Cook.

I think I saw him.

He's five years.

Engineer De Rocher, she's also five years.

She got this morning.

I don't think we're down here with Engineer Kyrus.

Maybe no.

Uh firefighter Ozuk, they're also five years.

I don't think he got anything off this morning.

And Engineer Tarka.

Don't know if he's here either.

I think that's it.

Thank you.

Well, that has gotten us to the great end.

Um want to appreciate those of you that were able to stick around.

We are televising this, so a lot of other people are watching it uh as they sit in their offices.

So uh it's been a great day.

We've had a lot of wonderful winners.

Uh but like I said at the very beginning, uh, there's so many more that we could award.

I mean, they're just not only the nominations and the people that get nominated, but uh what you do every day.

There's so many great things that I I'm sorry that we can't recognize everything, because we really are blessed with all the things that you do every day.

I would like to give a special thanks to the folks in finance who decorated the lobby.

I mean, they do an amazing job of that each year.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you.

One of our stalwarts there is not gonna be doing it next year, so we've got to get somebody to take it over on that, I think.

But um so uh finance uh and also finance helps out a lot with this, which we appreciate.

Uh facility maintenance uh gets out there with the tables and everything else that they do.

Um is just wonderful for everything.

And I know yesterday they were having to, I was watching them as they were taken down in one office and having to go set up downstairs for the other.

So uh they do a great job with everything they do for us.

And then we'd like to thank uh the flyer design for Bruce Bishop did, so we want to thank him for that.

Uh Brent Cheshire and Lonnie Kerr in the mailroom and copy center for printing the programs that we all had earlier today.

And then the food to Marietta Diner and Sam's Club for the wonderful food and desserts that they give us, and we appreciate their support each year.

And uh to Kelly Huff, obviously, for uh the wonderful pictures he does of everything we do, and uh all the folks that'll get their pictures from the awards today with their families, and they'll appreciate that.

And then I have to get to the uh folks at HR uh for the wonderful thing that they do.

I mean, they they came up with a new theme this time, and I don't think I'm gonna wear this every time, but um but it was a great theme for today.

It was perfect, and they got the red carpet and they got stanchions from the strand and did all this other stuff, and uh so the whole department did a great job with it.

But I'd really like to thank two people, and that's uh Ladonna and Keisha for the great job that they did.

Excellent, excellent service.

We really appreciate it.

No employees do too.

And so, as I said, this is it.

This is the final point of the service, and I want to thank everybody for everything you do every day.

Also, wish you a great Christmas, Hanukkah, and a blessed new year.

God bless y'all.