 Welcome to the employee service recognition reception. This is like right in my face. We were thrilled to have all of you here today. To be honest with you, so last year was my first one, and I've been on the job now about a year and a half. I have to say it was the best thing I did in my first year, and certainly anticipate this being as much fun as what we had last year. That's if all of you laugh at my jokes. We generally have fun. We haven't started off well because of the lack of a standing ovation, but hopefully we'll get this going. Mary, I love Mary. Thank you, Mary. God bless you. Now, she's definitely one of my faves of all time. There are 186 employees are being honored today for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 years of service. Let's just give everybody a big round of applause for that type of commitment. I did want to introduce a couple of our biggest supporters as staff. Counselor Ed Suslevic from District 3. He's here with us today. Counselor David Brenerman from District 5 is also here with us as well. We're very excited to have both of you here and thanks for attending. Again, Mary and your entire team, Mary over here, Mary, your entire team at the Barron Center, we want to thank all of you for the amazing lunch that we had today. Thank you. Then there's a group of people who are really responsible for putting all this on today. First is Gina Tapp, our Human Resources Officer, our director. Carleen Kessler. Where is Carleen? Somewhere around here. Mary, you're just mentioned in everything. So Mary McCarthy again. I just wanted to single out one particular person because she does the most amazing job and really a single-handedly in many ways, puts this on and is mostly responsible for all of you being here and all the great work. That's Kathy Vosmos. Kathy. I also wanted to mention Clarkson Woodward was standing over there from the police department. Jessica Grondon standing over there. Jessica asked me to mention that she received an award last week. So she's been carrying this award around everywhere, and I'm shocked that it's not here today, that it had its special display, but she was named the rising star by the main public relations of council, and so it was a big award for her. The police chief asked if she wanted a necklace to actually carry it around, and apparently you guys have tough enough necklaces over there. For some reason she declined, I'm surprised. Kathy Williams from Public Works. Thank you, Kathy. There you are. Keith Hansen, Parks Rec and Facilities. I saw Keith right over there. Last but not least, Peter McFarland from Parks Rec and Facilities right there. Peter and I have a history. Before I, the one that actually brought me to Maine was starting the Maine Red Clothes. So I created that team so don't hold it against me though. But Peter and Andy were the two guys that really helped me get that started, and this wonderful woman by the name of Anita Lechance was really the help me out a great deal when we got that started. Anita was here. I don't know. Oh, there she is over there. Let's begin the five-year recognition and the raffles. I'm going to read the names of all the five-year recipients and ask them to stand when their name is called, and we'll do applause at the end and then they can sit back down. And then we have, as you've seen, we have bags that we'll be raffling off as well. So the five years, Brent Abbott from the police department, Nof Alsakani from social services, David Anderson from fire department, Roderick Areza from the Barron Center, Robert Barrett from public health, Tiffany Bates from the police department, Ann Billidow from finance, Catherine Book from the Barron Center, Scott Brown from the fire department, William Bushy Jr. from public works, Thomas Caiazzo from human resources, Nicholas Calvert from fire, Jeanette Cadulo-Bronco from the police department, Michael Casey II from fire, Peter Cook from fire, Steven Koppe from fire, Rachel Crawford from the Barron Center, Laura Crump from the Barron Center. Is everyone standing? No one's standing. So obviously, I appreciate you following directions. So if I've called your name, please stand up so we can know one. Oh, thank you. God bless. I appreciate that. Thank you. I don't know. I saw, where's Tom Caiazzo? There we go. Okay. I have no idea where I was now. Oh, was it? Was it Koppe? Okay. Thank you. Rachel Crawford from the Barron Center, Laura Crump from the Barron Center, anybody here? I mean, so Paul Davidson from social services, Barry Dominette Niko. Sorry. Yeah, that sounds good. Stand up, man. From public works, Deline Dwelley from the Barron Center, Humiday El-Hai from public health, Travis Ferrante from Fire, Greg Gaboi from the Parks, Rec and Facilities, Diane Gagnon from Parks, Rec and Facilities, David Gain from Fire, Peter Gerard from Parks, Rec and Facilities, Glenn Gordon from Fire, Heather Grant from the Police Department, Caitlin Hager from my department, executive. I guess that's what it says. Allison Hills from Finance, Julie Howett from Social Services, Andrew Johnston from Fire, Adam Kalikowski from Fire, Charles Kamilowitz or Chuckles as we like to call him from Human Resources, Chris Kelly from Police, Gregory Knights from Fire, Tom Quack from Police, Desiree Lake from the Barron Center. You stood up, thank you. Brandon Lehman Farley from the Fire Department, Jennifer Lee from the Police Department, Irwin Maladon, Lord. Barron Center, Ajadeh M. Bazi from Social Services, Christine Mendez from the Barron Center, Russell Millet from the Barron Center, Akhtbar Mohamed from the Barron Center, Paul Muldoon-McGrath from the Fire Department, Tiffany Mullen from Finance, Michael Muchi from the Fire Department, Michael O'Sullivan from the Jet Port, Antoinette Pornini-Fini from the Barron Center, Felicia Quinn-Cannon from the Barron Center, Brad Saussier from Parking, Sarah Shildroff from the Barron Center, Aaron Shields from Parks Recreation, and Facilities, Lori Simon from Human Resources, Ryan Tenney from the Jet Port, John Thompson Jr. from the Barron Center, Megan Void from Social Services, Craig Voizine from Fire, Bobby Joe Weeks from Fire, Madeline Wyre from Parks Recreation, and Facilities, Robert White from Fire, Barrett Wilkinson from Public Health, Kyle Wormwood from the IT Department, Darrell Wright from Parks Recreation and Facilities, and Durrell Young from the Barron Center. So congratulations to all the five-year winners' recipients, and I appreciate all of you who actually stood. So again, we're gonna move on to the 10-year recognition. I'm gonna read all the names again, and I would ask you to stand as your name is called, and then we'll do the applause at the end. So from the police department, David Argitis, is that right? Pretty close, okay. James Baker Taylor from the Barron Center, Tanya Brazer from the Barron Center, Stacey Brooker from the Police Department, Nicholas Klisch from Parks Recreation and Facilities, John Cunniff from the Police Department, Hiram Del Rio from the Police Department, Kevin Dickinson from the Police Department, Voodo from Public Works. Thank you. Ryan Gagnan from the Police Department, Gretchen Gagnan from Public Works, Michael Galliotti from the Police Department, Aaron Geer from Social Services, Francis Gordon Jr. from Parking, Sandra Green from Public Health, Desiree Hopkins from Parking, Loreline James from the Barron Center, Brendan Johnson from Public Health, Henry Johnson IV from the Police Department, Rachel Kaiser from the Barron Center, Mark Keller from the Police Department, Paul King from the Police Department, Arthur Laferrier from the Jet Port, Frasardie Legaspi from Parks Recreation and Facilities. Sorry, man, I tried. Yeah, okay. Chris Libby from Public Works, Jim James Lobley, the most dapper gentleman in the entire city from finance, David Midori from Senior from Parks Recreation and Facilities, Renata Massey from Social Services, Daniel McMahon from Parks Recreation and Facilities, Chris Mitchell from the Police Department, Mitchell Virchin from the Jet Port, Valerie McGarruca from the Barron Center, Rosemary Murphy from the Barron Center, Sanella Nabahalo from the Police Department, Scott Willett from Public Works, Chris Peterson from Parks Recreation and Facilities. Good to see you, Chris. Alyssa Poison from the Police Department, Faribay Ramanpour from IT, Jonathan Rio from Permitting and Inspections, Vincent Rossi from the Police Department, Ryan Scott from Parks Recreation and Facilities, Christiane from the Police Department, Toho Soma from Public Health, Christian Stickney from the Police Department, Jeff Swanson, Parks Recreation and Facilities, Nicole Swift, Finance, Daniel Soakowski from the Public Works Department, Lisa Thompson from the Barron Center, Daniel Townsend from the Police Department, Michael Vance from the Jet Port, Heidi Waterhouse from the Fire, Teresa Waters from the Barron Center, Shakira Weir from Planning and Urban Development, and Fiona Willis from Parks, Recreation and Facilities. Please give them a big round of applause. So now I have the honor of introducing to all of you the 15 year recipients. Again, if you wouldn't mind standing so we can recognize you. It is an amazing effort to have worked for the city for 15 years, and so congratulations to all of you. Jeffrey Boyd from the Jet Port, Bill Kerrigan from the Jet Port, John Sinette from the Fire Department, Tammy Christensen from the Barron Center, Sarah Colton from the Police Department, Chris Coyne from the Police Department, and Andy Downs from Parks, Recreation and Facilities. Glad you made it this far, Andy. Andy Jigaleski from the Police Department. I practice that one, pal. You lost the bet? That's nice. That is really, thanks for having the faith. I really do, so good God. Matthew Hyde, Police Department, Chris Farwell from Parks, Recreation and Facilities, Linda Fuzelle from the Barron Center, Frank Gorm from the Police Department, Janice Hackett from Police, Mark Cazelle from the Police Department, Regine Lamour from Public Works, Tammy Morse from Social Services, Chris Sibley from the Police Department, Linda Atterio from the Social Services Division, and Sherri Wheeler from the Barron Center. Congratulations to all of you. You guys come up here and try to pronounce all these names. So now we're gonna move on to another distinguished group, the 20 year recipients. Amazing to work for the city for 20 years. Thank you very, very much for your service. And it's a distinguished group of people. First of all, Cathy Alves from the Parks, Recreation and Facilities. I don't think Cathy's here. Unfortunately, Cathy is not here. She recently had some surgery, and basically, Cathy tells me what to do on mostly a daily basis, and I listen to her. So, unfortunately, Cathy's not with us right now. But, Konstant Collins from the Barron Center, Victor Cody Jr. from the Police Department, Sally DeLuca from Parks, Recreation and Facilities. Sally was telling me that technically, if she didn't leave the city to go to college and work one other place, she'd be with the city for 40 years. And so, sorry, so get back up. So, Mariel DeDoyan from the IT Department, Mariel. Tim Fish from Parks, Recreation and Facilities. Tim. Scott Lamb from Public Works. Where's Scott? Richard Marston from the Jet Port. Christine Robertson from the Barron Center. Daniel Rose from the Police Department. Leon Ross Jr. from Parks, Recreation and Facilities. Laurie Schools from Finance. Yay, Laurie. John Shippey from Social Services. Congratulations. Craig Sloan from Public Works. Jay Twomey from the Police Department. Robert Weyer from Parks, Recreation and Facilities. Danny Wilcox from Parks, Recreation and Facilities. Danny. And Todd Ziga from the Fire Department. So now, a very, very distinguished group of individuals. I'm gonna ask all of you whose name I'm gonna call to come up to the front and line up here. We're gonna embarrass you by having you come up. Deb Andrews from the Planning and Urban Development Department. Joy Clark from the Barron Center. Keith Hansen from Parks, Recreation and Facilities. He looks good for 25 years. Nice job. Michael Higgins from the Jet Port. Tom Gervais from Parking. Mary Mokern from the Barron Center. Is Mary here? Kevin Noyes from Public Works. Jenny Soby from the Barron Center. Jeanette Strickland from Parks, Recreation and Facilities. And last but not least, Nancy Wilkins from the Barron Center. Please give all of these big round of applause. We're going to now recognize an elite group. Actually, the next three are truly in classes by themselves. The 30, the 35 and 40 year old, 40 year, 40 year olds. Yeah. You were born when you started here. So some of us feel that way. Ann, 45. First is Tim Flynn from the Fire Department. Tim could not join us today, but we did want to make sure that we recognized him for his years of service. So Tim, please convey our deep thanks to Tim for his years. And Chief Sosciak, if you wouldn't mind joining me. Robert Foss. Robert, do you mind coming up? All right, so I've got to admit to a miserable failure today in front of my boss that Andy Jigaleski 15 years ago, we called him by his name one time, right? As soon as he came off probation, he fessed up to the fact that he's a New York Yankees fan. And we've been calling him other stuff beyond his name for years ever since then. And I should have told you that, John, in advance here, but he's a good guy all the right. First and foremost, thanks for all that you're doing. We appreciate the partnerships across the city. On behalf of the police department, thank you very much whether you've been here a day or 45 years, you're incredible. And we do appreciate that. For Fosy Bear, there we go, yeah, thanks. So we got Bob Fosy Bear Foss or the Street Hawk and there's a bunch of other different names we could call Bob. But let me just say that Bob is an incredible person, first and foremost. He's always smiling, except for right now, apparently. Making a liar out of me, which is awesome in front of all these witnesses. So Bob's an incredible guy. If you look back in his career, a lot of his positions over the years have really been forward-facing, working with the community every day, whether it's walking on footbeats or walking on Peaks Island as an example. Or another job was in traffic and he was one of our fatal accident reconstructionists for years as well. And now he's currently at the jet port and I can't think of a better position for somebody who's always smiling and always wants to put out and is always willing to go above and beyond to help somebody. Talk about customer service and talk about some of the first people that you see as you come into our city. And Bob is a perfect example of that without question. And I usually don't do this, but I'm gonna do it. I have a good time going back and looking at personnel files and I usually don't read things. This is a good one. And this is from somebody that Bob actually arrested in 96. Now I've arrested some people and I've received some letters over the years and they weren't complimentary in nature. But on May 13th of 96, Chief Chitwood at the time received the letter and I'll just read a couple of pieces in here. I just wanna make sure that you know what a valuable asset your agency has in Officer Foss. Even though at the time, I was being charged with a crime, Officer Foss treated me with compassion, respect and dignity. Officer Foss truly treated me like he would have wanted a member of his family to be treated in a bad situation. He is an officer that all of you can be proud of. And that goes without saying. He's a great guy and if somebody in that situation thinks of that highly of him, just imagine what everybody else is thinking out there day to day. So Foss, congratulations, bro. Since the Chief is on a roll, we're going to keep him up because we have one more person from the police department who is celebrating their 30 years with us. Bob Martin from the police, can you come up, Bob? All right, so Lieutenant Bob Martin has had a long and illustrious career without question. When he started with us back in 86, we thought so highly of him, we paid him seven bucks an hour. So it really worked out pretty well. Kept him around for another 30 years after that. So that was certainly good. And he specialized essentially throughout his entire career. He was an evidence technician with a lot of specialties for six years. That means he's working all the major crime scenes that we have across the city. He was one of the first drug recognition experts in the entire state of Maine. And that's a position that's incredibly specialized. And there's a lot that goes on to that. A lot of training that happens. He worked in the criminal investigation division multiple times as a sergeant in charge of the property division and the courts. And he's currently been moved into position as a lieutenant where he's running that entire unit. So there are three police departments across the entire state that can work every crime from shoplifts and the homicides. That's Bangor, the main state police in the Portland police department. And Bob's in charge of that unit. He's got a career of having accommodation for heroism, for running into a burning building and saving some folks back in the early 90s, and for bravery, for being involved in an armed confrontation in 2006. It's a man who's been there. He's done it. He's taking care of our people now and he's taking care of our city now. And we're pretty proud of him. I'm glad I'm lucky that he's here for 30 years. And we're lucky that he's willing to step up to the plate over and over again. So Bob, congratulations on 30, buddy. Next I'd like to ask Mary Davis if she could join me up here. We would like to recognize Rhonda Jones from the Planning and Urban Development Department for 30 years of great service to the city. Rhonda. Hopefully you can hear me. Rhonda began working. Thank you. No. Anything for you, Mary. Thank you so much. She began working for the city at the Baron Center and then moved on to public health. And when she was in public health, she started working with our Lead Safe Housing Program. That's a program that addresses lead paint hazards in homes. And she's been a key component of that program since 1996, 1995. Over the course of the years, we've been able to abate over 400 units of lead paint hazards. And Rhonda's played a key role in every one of those. I've worked with her for the last 18 years. Five years, the past five years as her supervisor. You couldn't find a person who has more compassion for the people that she serves. She's a person who has a great deal of integrity. No matter if you were one of the most neediest in our community or an elected official, you're gonna get the same compassion and service from Rhonda no matter who you are, where you come from or what's going on in your life. She sets high expectations for herself and the people around her. She's an extremely hard worker. She never hesitates to step up. She'll do anything that's asked of her. And oftentimes you don't even have to ask. She's a voice of reason in difficult situations. She has the ability to take a step back, reassess and propose a solution that maybe the rest of us haven't seen. She's an invaluable member of our team in housing and community development. She not only works with our let's say housing program, but she also administers our home repair program and oversees our tenant based rental assistance program. I just want to say thank you for all you do to improve the quality of life for all of the people in our community. Thank you for being my friend and congratulations on your years of service. If I could Chief Jackson, do you mind joining me? Oh, he's already on his way. As the fire department always is, right? They're on their way. Creed Ray from the fire department. Creed, can you join us? Well, good afternoon, everybody. First, I'd like to echo also what Chief Sausdorke said earlier is that all of you do important work every day and us and the fire department, we really do appreciate it because even though we're serving the citizens and visitors of the city, we come in your workplaces to help our fellow workers as well when they're in need and all of you have just been always tremendous to work with and always there to help your fellow employee and we also appreciate the fact you're helping us. So I really do want to echo the fact that all of us are doing great stuff and good work and we really do appreciate it. I also just want to say a few words about Timmy Flynn. He wasn't going to be here today, but as we look across the harbor, we can look where they all live. The whole Flynn family lived and grew up on Peaks Island and they're very, very dedicated to the city between their dad and all of the brothers in that family. There's been two chiefs, a captain, a lieutenant and all of them serving as firefighters and there's many, many years there of dedicated time and service to the city and it was unfortunate he couldn't be here today, so I would do want to. So as most of us know for the fire service, we are a very proud group, the men and women that serve this business, but we are extremely humble and I'm sure Chief Chuck would agree every time we come to these organizations, you want to see the firefighters or police officers just go to the back of the room. We're all standing there, not sitting down and feeling very humble about ourselves and what we do, but we're very proud and I will say that Lieutenant Ray and I have worked together for quite some time and he is a fine representative of the Poland Fire Department. He is also a very proud firefighter. He has served on many committees through the department over the years. He stepped up and got actively involved in the union, was vice president, again serving on many committees to help better their workplace for their employees and he's also taken on extra details and became like our official unofficial photographer for the department which I can't thank him enough and constantly tell him because losing that history and not taking the time to take those photos we always regret that we weren't recording those things that happened and he has taken this on himself, he shows up at all our events, all the softball tournaments, the award ceremonies, the graduations, things like this as you see them up here snapping pictures left and right and I can't think I'm enough for stepping up and doing that. Well, 30 years. I will be the first one to tell you this is a young person's game and when you've got 30 years and it's kind of a tough deal to continue to be putting in the time, the effort, the hours, night and day, 24 hour service and doing the work we do and to make it 30 years and still be able to take care of yourself and still be doing this job is certainly unbelievable that he's continued to do this work for that timeframe and unfortunately we've had some conversations lately about retirement which I think he's looking forward to but I was hoping he wouldn't leave but I couldn't ask for a better person to serve with, a better friend and again it's always those shoes that are gonna be tough to fill and Creed I just wanna say congratulations and on behalf of the department thank you on behalf of the city as well thank you for 30 years of dedicated service. We have actually two people from Parks Recreation Facilities, one of the most vital departments that we certainly have like all of you in the city. Sally DeLuca is joining me. I did wanna read the two names but Elizabeth Richards I believe, Beth, is Beth here? Just to say, do you know Beth? Congratulations, Beth thank you for your years of service and I know you're a little shy and don't wanna come up here so. And the next person though I would like to ask to come up, Howard Stein, 30 years of dedicated service to the city. As I was thinking about talking about Howard today I was reminded that sometimes as city employees we don't get to see the impact that we have on people that we serve here in Portland so I'm gonna ask you all to help me show Howard the impact that what he does for citizens here in Portland. So I want you all to close your eyes. Come on just close your eyes for a minute. I want you to think back when you were in grade school and I want you to think about a great childhood memory that you have about playing outside. Whether you were sliding down that 15 foot slide that was made of metal and burned all the way down on a hot summer day or those fabulous merry go rounds where you would try to go so fast you'd throw your friend off. Or maybe you were just walking in the park having a picnic with a family friend or shameless plug up on the Eastern prom watching the fireworks. So open your eyes for me now and stand up if you had a fabulous childhood memory just then thinking about playing outside. Just stand up. Thank you for that. I wanted to show Howie how important it is what we do outside in the parks and I want to congratulate him for 30 years working here at the city of Portland and I want to thank him for helping make the same kind of memories that you just thought of and that people will have here in the city of Portland. Congratulations. I am a little concerned. I noticed some of you didn't stand up when you, about a positive childhood memory. So, Danielle? You had a terrible childhood memory, what you said? Excuse me, I'm losing my voice. So the last person to recognize for 30 years of tremendous service to the city of Portland. Kathy, early, Kathy could you join me please? Rhonda Zazzara from the Public Works Department. Rhonda, could you come please join us? I'm honored to be here today to help celebrate Rhonda's career in public service and give you a glimpse into that 30 year career. As a friend and a coworker, Rhonda and I share the distinction of being two of the last three people in engineering that have been there for 25 years or more. So we're like the historians now, I guess. Rhonda began her service as a drafts person in 1986. She translated our big ideas into design plans without personal computers, without automation. We used Leroy lettering and polar planimeters to make our plans. Staff used light tables and tracing papers to make up our concepts. And the stink of ammonia was constant as the designs were turned out by the Blu-ray machine on mylar or sepia paper. But her dedication and hard work then led to mastering the skills of using computers when they came along and AutoCAD that turned that design effort into a lot more automated. And she kept turning our project ideas into professional design plans. After mastering the art of producing two dimensional plans, Rhonda took on the challenge of learning how to build three dimensional products and I can tell you from experience it's tough to figure out how to make that it looks so good on paper product into something three dimensional that's truly functional. Many of our roads and sidewalks and sewer projects were skillfully built under her watchful eye. She's organized, genuine and sincere in her dedication to quality and the common good of the community. Her current role as the leader of our construction quality enforcement team requires skills such as negotiation, fairness, consistency and peacekeeping. She represents the city very well with those talents every day and does so with compassion. A little story from her file that I stumbled across and remember now, an example of that compassion. She was on a job site in 2003 where we had just laid down hot asphalt on Edgeworth Avenue. A young person who had been visiting the site every day had rollerbladed into that hot asphalt. I don't know if you know how serious an injury that can be but it is awful. He fell into the material and Rhonda instantly leapt into action. Her immediate care prevented far more serious burns. She even utilized skin so soft that she had with her at the time to help detach the asphalt from him, got the family on the scene and made sure that he had proper aftercare. Every day Rhonda and her team provide high quality outcomes for the entire community. So please join me in celebrating her 30 years of exceptional service. Could you please join me again with recognizing our 30 year recipients for their tremendous work. So we have another distinguished group that of 35 year employees that have, we have three and I'd like to ask Aaron Geer if Aaron could join me. Oh, he's already ready. Julia Glassak, could you join us please? 35 years of incredible service to the city of Portland. Well good afternoon and thank you everyone. I'd like to actually take a minute to thank city manager Jennings for putting on this event and keeping these sort of events going. I know it's created a lot of positive energy at least in our division and department so thank you for that. What I initially asked to reflect sort of on Julie's 35 year tenure with the city. So many things came to mind. Julie started with the city right out of college and had many roles. A couple that stand out in my mind in sort of depicting her career within the city. And that is in the early 90s, Julie actually wrote an SSI outreach grant. There was one of the first in the nation and a model that's still used today nationwide to help folks navigate through the difficult process of applying for general assistance and really has helped hundreds of folks with that process. And even as recent as last week we get calls from all over the country as far south as Florida and the most recent call was a lady in Connecticut asking for Julie's services and so something that's really, really powerful. And I guess the other thing would be that Julie was the 2002 game the award recipient. Just sort of a testament to her dedication and commitment to the city, the residents that live here and the staff. So really appreciate your 35 years, Julie, thank you. Steve Earley, Steve, could you join me please? Oh, you don't look much like Steve, but his bride, Kathy, will stand in for him. But, yes, yeah, that's out there. Marty McClearn from Public Works Department. Yes, here we go. Marty, congratulations on 35 amazing years with the city, Kathy. Hi again, everyone. Steve unfortunately couldn't be here today, but he asked me to share his words as he thought about Marty's service over the years. Come here, please. Woo-hoo! Actually, it might be better that Steve's not here because he's got stories. Marty started his stellar career with Public Works in August of 1981. And since that time, Marty has developed into a valuable employee with a can do attitude. Marty took over as the island supervisor in 2014 after the untimely death of his best friend, AJ Alves, who Marty grew up with on Peaks Island. As an islander, as is true with all islanders, Marty is self-reliable. You have to be when you work and supervise island crews. And Marty and his crew often do their own equipment repair, their own building repair, and of course their own repairs to the islands themselves. Marty came up through the ranks and developed into an excellent equipment operator. He can operate just about anything the department owns with great efficiency. Heck, when Public Works even had our own marine landing craft, you know, like the one you see in Saving Private Ryan that transports the troops to the beaches? Well, it was Marty who skipered that craft for us. Marty takes great pride in providing the best services possible for all the islanders. His personnel file is full of letters of appreciation from many residents on the islands. He's always willing to go the extra mile and he does such with certain flair. You'll always see him with his handlebar mustache, they just trimmed up, and his western-style hats that he's always wearing. There's no mistaking Marty. Please join me in congratulating Marty on his 35 years of outstanding service to the city and especially the islands. There is another gentleman that is unfortunately not here with us, I believe, but someone that has spent 35 years with the city and has done an amazing job. His name is Ted Musgrave with Parks, Recreation, and Facilities. Ted has, I just wanted to say a couple things about Ted myself. Ted has worked tirelessly on behalf of the city. All those events that you see in public spaces, Ted is the one who is making sure that everyone has every single thing that they need for all of those events. We've seen an explosion of events in the city and that's probably the reason why Ted is not here today because he's probably taken care of another one of those events. So could you join me in congratulating Ted Musgrave for 35 years? So once again, Julia, Marty, and Ted, 35 years, if you could all join me in thanking them once again. So moving to 40 years of service, we have Penelope Diaz from the police department. She unfortunately is not with us today but we did want to recognize her. So could you please give her a big round of applause? Another person that is, I believe she's here with us, Karleen Kessler from Human Resources. Karleen, nope, she's not here either. Could you give her a big round of applause for 40 years of dedicated service? Karen, do you mind joining? So there are two, actually three folks from the Baron Center that will be recognizing for 40 years of service. The first is Lisa Littlefield. So Karen, do you mind? See, I think that means you all know who Lisa Littlefield is. She's one of the many heroes working behind the scenes for the Baron Center. You know she's behind all that that happened down there, right? You know that. Lisa's dedicated 40 years of exceptional service to the Portland community. From satisfying our resident's nutritional needs to forming lasting relationships with them, Lisa has excelled in her position as cook too at the Baron Center. Lisa began her career path as a part-time member of the Portland City Hospital kitchen staff in 1976. After receiving her degree in culinary arts she devoted herself to cooking. Her enthusiasm and dedication toward assisting elders as well as her commitment to quality has positioned her to become a leader in the kitchen. In addition to taking care of us at the Baron Center Lisa caters, city functions, feeds the city staff and the city council and oversees the clock tower cafe. She is known far and wide for her cookies and her whoopee pies. Lisa can often be found catering to her friends in the dining room at the Baron Center. From discussing the latest games and or listening to them reminisce she connects with each resident on a personal level. Lisa invites residents to assist her in cooking pies and other goodies. She creates special meals and desserts for residents who are celebrating a birthday or recognizing a special important anniversary. I know a few more things about Lisa. She loves getting to know the residents at the Baron Center. She has an extraordinary and I mean extraordinary work ethic and she's a good sport. She has a generosity of spirit, one seldom experiences in the world today. She has heart. Yep, heart. Yep, heart girl. Lisa, you enhance the quality of life offered at the Baron Center. Every day you make a difference to the people we care for. I'm so impressed by your skill, your knowledge and your attitude. Thank you for your 40 years of dedicated service to the city of Portland. The next person we're honoring at 40 years of service again from the Baron Center Colleen O'Brien. This is where you all get to see that the people at the Baron Center are really tough. Tough and I think stubborn. We had five people that were 40 years or 45 years if you could believe it. Colleen started at Portland City Hospital in 1976 as a hospital aide and 10 years later she was promoted to Materials Manager. She's now responsible for the Baron Center's Central Medical Supply Department. As a hospital aide and later as a certified nursing assistant Colleen was described as loyal and dependable and that she gets along well with others. Today I can tell you she comes to work every day with a friendly attitude and is rarely absent and does an outstanding job for the Baron Center's staff and residents. Colleen has a special gift for getting to know others. She has gone out of her way to make hundreds of personal connections with Baron Center residents and families. Over the years you would have seen Colleen making her deliveries to the nursing units with a resident assistant along with her. They follow her like she was a Pied Piper. Colleen knows how to make others feel important and treats everyone like her best friend. I have seen her change lives with the attention she provides to residents. If you ever want to get Colleen's attention just start talking about your pet. She loves animals especially dogs especially Newfoundland dogs and if there's a dog that enters the building it's almost certain Colleen will know about it and be there with a treat. Colleen is quiet and kind and dedicated and like her coworkers today she shies away from recognition. Colleen you've made the Baron Center a better place in which to work by extending your friendship to so many of us. You make each day a little more fun for our residents. Your caring is without reservation. Congratulations on your 40 years of dedicated employment with the city and we're all grateful for it. The last person to recognize for 40 years of service. Oh Karen Tolman's not here. Yeah I was just gonna mention. Yeah that's okay. It's okay correct me that's fine. I get it from everyone so. Karen Tolman who works also for the Baron Center and fortunately she's not here today. She couldn't be with us but we did want to recognize her for 40 amazing years of service to the city. So moving on to 45 years. Actually if I may just go back to 40. Could you join me in recognizing all the 40 year recipients. Penelope, Colleen, Lisa, Colleen and Karen for their amazing years of service. So the 45 year recipients an amazing amazing group, an elite group. We have two individuals again from the Baron Center. And if I could just for a second since Karen is standing here and who has been the leader of the Baron Center for many years to recognize both Karen and the vital nature of the Baron Center. It is truly the greatest jewel that we have with the city. The amazing compliments that I get for the care, the loving care and the service that the Baron Center provides on a daily and hourly basis is amazing. And so to all of you who are here with the Baron Center and especially you Karen thank you for this amazing jewel that we have with the city, the Baron Center. So the 45 years. There are two individuals again from the Baron Center. Unfortunately Sharon Fuller could not be with us today but 45 years of service to the city of Portland. So please give Sharon a big round of applause. And finally Eileen Norton from the Baron Center. So you all know who Eileen is too. At pace to be around for 45 years, people get to know you. As John said, Eileen is one of two 45 year employees at the Baron Center. I don't think any other department has two 45 year employees. It's amazing. I know how fortunate we are to have Eileen at the Baron Center. There are many folks at the Baron Center that believe that, let me start all over again. There are many folks at the Baron Center that believe Eileen knows everything about it. She wise cracked to one employee. It was just because I've been here forever. Eileen is our payroll clerk and handles accounts payable. She knows all the employees if not by site then at least by name. She knows about their life. She maybe knows their mother or their aunt. Also she knows who's having a baby and expects to hold him or her on his first visit to the Baron Center. Eileen is a warm and caring person who listens to others. And she explains sometimes really complicated circumstances to an employee about the payroll as easily as she says good morning. You may not know that Eileen started at the Baron Center as a CNA in 1971. Like was said earlier, I looked at her personnel file which is quite thick. And I think in 1971 she was paid $74 a week and $2 a week was deducted for food. Cause we fed people who worked at the Baron Center. In 71 the position was called the hospital aid. From there she went on to be a ward clerk many years in job titles later. She's now a senior administrative officer. Her personnel record is thick with evaluations. Words such as dependable, efficient, accurate are frequently used. So her phrases like positive attitude, one of our most valuable team members and frequently suggest ways to improve services for both the employee and the facility's benefit. All this still applies today. Eileen has taught us about consistency, about showing up every day and doing the job at hand. She has shown kindness and thoughtfulness to those around her and rarely has any personal complaints. She's an effective problem solver and cannot resist the occasional wisecrack. Eileen is fun to work with. She has reviews of where to go for lunch, who's having a sale on what and sometimes movie and book reviews. Eileen, you have impacted the lives of countless number of individuals who come to you for information and help. The Baron Center has been better for it and I am in awe. I really am in awe and so proud to acknowledge your 45 years of service with the city of Portland. And I feel bad nobody's coming up here to take their picture with me. No. Well, we'll get, why don't we take a picture of the table? Yeah. As we're taking the picture, could you once again just join me in congratulating Sharon and Eileen for 45 years of dedicated service. Our next recognition is considered to be the most prestigious award by the city. It's named after former city manager, Robert Ganley or Bob Ganley, as many of you knew him. I worked with him. I am less for it than I never got a chance to know him. But I do pass his portrait every single morning when I walk into the office and I look at his portrait and hope to goodness that I can do as good a job as what he did on that given day that he did over his 14 years as city manager in Portland. Unfortunately, Bob passed away back in 2000 but we've had this award since 2002 and this will be the 15th winner of this service award. And it recognizes an employee who's worked for the citizens of Portland demonstrates over a period of years characteristics such as efficient and economical use of city resources, mastery of skills and judgment required for successful performance of their duties, commitment to share knowledge and skills with coworkers, freely committed themselves, real concern to improve the common good, respond generally to the concerns of individual citizens to be attentive to voices not usually heard and adheres to Bob Ganley's maximum that good public service is recognized by the substance of the performance not by the style in which it is carried out. There was the selection committee is comprised of previous award winners namely Barbara Barhart in 2015, Mary McCarthy in 2011, Kevin Haley from 2010, Paul Bradbury from 2008, human resources staff, Gina Tapp and Carleen Kessler and our communications director Jessica Grondin. This award is presented annually and so I'd like to ask chief, actually I'd like to mention that the committee received 10 nominations for this award and all the nominees were quite worthy and from according to the committee it was not an easy decision but we do have an award winner that fully exemplifies what Mr. Ganley talked about all those years ago. So chief Jackson, do you mind joining me? I first want to say that the fire department we've never had anybody in the department win the Bob Ganley award and that as chief of the department and certainly on behalf of everybody in the fire department we are extremely proud that one of our peers today is going to be receiving this. This recipient received several nominations from his colleagues and I think today I want to share some of those thoughts and what was written up about him. His most prevalent trait is his concern and support for the members of the department. He truly understands that it is his responsibility support those that work for him and to give the members the tools and information they need to perform their jobs to the best of their ability. He has attended offsite trainings at his own expense to augment existing skills and to gain new ones that he shares with the department. He has dedicated himself to the city and he's always given of himself and shown leadership when need to. He has a heart for others in need and he's always been a giver. He gives him of himself daily to others to help them improve. He has a great ability to work with people to see compromise and to solve problems while holding himself and those around him to a high standard. He is always active in the department fundraisers and supports members in need by being a member of our peer support team. Not only is he an asset to the fire department but he's also an active member in his community. He is a soccer and baseball coach for local youth programs and has been involved with the wreaths across America for years. He's been an educator in the fire service for all of his 20 plus years including a primary instructor at the department's fire academy since year 2000. He also delivers many instructional programs throughout the year both for the department and for the public. Being highly dedicated to service delivery and working on the street every day which is where most of us firefighters enjoy, it was not an easy decision for him on whether or not to pursue the advancement to deputy chief and assistant chief as he knew these career moves changed his personal life and his time that he'd be working and doing the job as a firefighter. He was the deputy chief in charge of the tragic noise streets fire. The consequences of that fire drove him to consider being promoted into a position overseeing our fire prevention bureau. He ultimately chose to pursue the assistant chief role because he wanted to use his skills and abilities to make a positive impact on fire prevention and safety in the city. He's been the driving force in designing and implementing the fire department's new inspection program. He's dedicated to making sure that the pole and has safer housing. He's gone about this by working with property owners to make sure they make realistic and impactful improvements. He also works hand in hand with employees from across city departments on planning, zoning, permitting and housing safety issues. He's built great relationships with employees across all levels of city government and he's dedicated to educating the public on fire safety. He spent a great deal of time organizing public events for the fire department and the public to participate in. Many times the events also are always pulling him away from family time. At this point, I would ask that Keith control come up front please. Keith, I'm extremely proud to have this opportunity and be part of this today. I know you and I have worked so hard in this industry together and I know how truly dedicated you have been to fire prevention and fire safety and how we always go back and just look at those tragedies and always think about what we could do to improve it. And I just want you to know how proud I am on behalf of all the men and women in the department and everybody in the city for you to be receiving this award today. It's very well deserved, congratulations. I'm glad you guys were all sitting seriously. It's the only time I'm taller than any of you. Actually, yeah, any of you except for my son. This is pretty crazy. I was not expecting this at all. And let's see how this goes. So thank you. It is really, this is really, really a special award and I'm truly honored and humbled by this even just to be up here and speaking in front of you. Sometimes when you get news like this, it's like, oh, that's great. This was really cool when I received it and then it really sunk in. I knew this when I started to look back at the previous recipients just a couple of nights ago. Barbara Barheit, David Caldwell, Janine Roberts, Joshua Bryan, Mary McCarthy, Kevin Haley, Mark Spiller, Paul Bradbury, Cheryl Main, Kathy Alvis, John Goodman in Rick Nolan and it goes on. These names, it just, when I see these, these are all great employees, fantastic people which make this city so great and keep us moving forward. It's truly a list to be, it's truly an honor to be on this list and up here with them. I'm also extremely proud that I'm the first fire department to receive, fire department member to receive this Gantley award. In my position that I am with the city now, rather than being dedicated to one shift in one company, I have the opportunity to work with all of our employees and all of our firefighters on all shifts because I'm there every day, or it seems like every day. And it's just made me a better person being around everybody in the department. I also have the unique opportunity, as the chief was saying, to work closely with all other departments now in the position that I'm in. So I'm working with the police department, I'm working with planning, inspections, I'm working with the school departments, public works and facilities were constantly working. What I try to do is when I meet a lot of those folks, a lot of the employees, the managers, the directors, the lieutenants, captains, chiefs, when I meet all of those folks, what I'm going to do is I take the good, I take everything, all the good quality and characteristics that they have and I try to use that to my advantage and it helps me. Here's what I've learned. I'm going to do just a couple of things. What I've learned over the years from meeting some of these great people is a couple of things here. Always provide good customer service even when it's not convenient. Work on integrity at least once a day. Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. Always try to earn respect, not demand it. Listen more than you speak. My wife's kind of fond of that one. Use the word we rather than I when communicating with your people. You cannot lead from the back. Finally, make time for family. The work will always be there even after you're long gone. I would like to thank all my brothers and sisters in the fire department. I want to thank those who nominated me and the committee members that worked on the selection process. Finally, I'm thank them for my wife and kids. Thank you for putting up with all the crazy schedules, crazy shifts, missed Christmases and the late night media calls lately. Those are real special. I'm most thankful for my wife, Stephanie, that she can be here today. Matthew and Jacob, those are happy tears, right? For your dad, absolutely. Part of what your dad received today in addition to the award and the certificate is a $250 Visa gift card. He asked me to give that to you too. I'm sure he'll grab it back from you as soon as this is over. Keith, just on behalf of myself, I just want to congratulate you and thank you for everything. We have developed a great partnership over the last year and a half, and this is your phenomenal example of why this award exists, and so I'm very happy for you and your family, so congratulations. Okay. So that brings us to the conclusion today, but if I could just be serious for one second, and Gina does want to also speak, that's okay. Again, I've been in this job for a year and a half, and I am so incredibly proud of each and every one of you who are here today and the over 1,300 other people who work for this city. It is truly a gift of a lifetime for me to be able to represent you, to work with each and every one of you, to be able to get the accolades. Oftentimes people will say, what a great job public works has done or any and all of our departments are doing, and so I am lucky that way that I get to be the recipient, but I know deep in my heart that it is because of all of you and because of the dedication you have to every single person who lives in the city, who works in the city, who plays in the city. So thank you for all that you do, and it is a truly an honor for me to be able to work with each and every one of you. So thank you for being here today. Thank you for all you do, and I look forward to years of continued service. I'm not sure I'll make it to 45 years, but I'll do my best. So, Jeanette? Thanks. I echo what John said too, and I didn't want to leave today without just mentioning how great it is to work in human resources for a place like the city of Portland, because I get to see all of everything that you do, and the things that happen in the city don't just happen. They happen because good people like you are dedicated and you have a heart of service and you pick the job where you want to do things for other people, and to be able to see that and then see all of you who have 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, eventually. I mean, it's just really, really amazing, and I hope that when you look around, you're seeing that same thing, what a great group of people you are. When I do new employee orientation every month, I talk about that, about how new employees who come in, they join the city thinking, oh, it's a great job and it has great benefits, but when you really join the city and you start to meet people, you see that you really join something special and that every one of you every day does your job for other people, and I just want to say thank you so much for that, and thank you for taking the time today to come here and recognize all of your coworkers for all of that great service. It's really wonderful to see you all here today. Thank you. Okay, thank you very much, and enjoy the rest of the day.