The City of Gastonia's annual Employee Awards recognize exceptional and innovative service by employees in four categories. Nominations are made by City employees and a committee of employees selects the recipients. The winners were recently announced.
The four Employee Award recipients were to be recognized by the City Council on March 17, but that was indefinitely postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak. Their names and photos will be added to plaques displayed at City Hall. Photos of the honorees will be included in a future edition of Employee Focus.
Tim Jones – Safety Award
Jones is a Motor Equipment Operator for Public Works. He typically works in the rights-of-way along streets with various types of tractors and mowers. He trims grass around guardrails, edges along sidewalks and cuts low-hanging limbs over sidewalks and streets. He also cleans out storm drain catch basins, removes storm debris from streets such as fallen trees and operates snowplows and spreaders.
Those who nominated him said Jones encourages coworkers to use proper safety precautions. Jones says he believes City employees should watch out for each other and make sure everyone is doing their jobs as safely as possible.
Jones was also recognized for recommending a new type of ear protection that is equipped with Bluetooth technology. “I was looking for a way to hear my phone if my supervisor would call me,” Jones explains. “The mowing tractors are very loud and this solves the problem.” He says the technology also allows crew members to communicate easily with each other while operating loud or heavy equipment.
Jones has worked for the City for nearly five years. When not at work, he likes riding mountain bikes, spending time with his family and cheering for the Carolina Panthers.
Tyler Davis – Customer Service Award
Davis works in the Community Services Department. He manages the financial records for federal grants for the Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnership Programs. He assists with managing three grants that fund the Gaston-Cleveland-Lincoln Metropolitan Planning Organization. He also manages the financial records for Keep Gastonia Beautiful and Gastonia Sister Cities, and assists with their budget preparations and minutes of their committee and board meetings.
Several City employees nominated Davis for the award, saying that he is “always there when you need him” and that he “goes above and beyond for everyone.”
Davis says serving others brings him joy and gives his life purpose, and his Christian faith guides his approach. “I strive to serve others and treat them with respect, the way I would like to be treated,” he says. He says each day, he tries to provide support and encouragement to those around him and be professional, compassionate and sincere.
Davis’s title is Grant Manager in the City’s Community Services Department and he has worked for the City for four years.
Chris Adams – Leadership Award
Nominations said Adams leads by example and is always willing to pitch in and help others. Those who nominated him also emphasized that Adams is a good mentor and continually encourages his employees to seek education, enrichment and personal growth.
Adams, a crew chief with Public Works/Solid Waste, acknowledges that he tries to be a positive example for the 35 employees who report to him. “I want employees to value their job and I lead by example,” he says. Adams has worked for the City for 30 years. He says hard work and honesty are the characteristics he values most in the workplace.
Marshall Green – Extraordinary Service
Safety cameras in City parks, the FUSE construction camera, WiFi in City buildings, mobile data terminals in police cars and firetrucks, accessing City emails on your phone – all of those and more are managed by Senior Network Engineer Marshall Green of Technology Services.
Managing computer connectivity within the City is a vast and complicated job. The nominations commended Green for suggesting that the City install security cameras in parks after Maddox Ritch went missing in 2018 and for leading the way to install the live FUSE cam.
“Awareness and safety are hot topics,” Green says. For the cameras at Rankin Lake Park, he coordinated with the Electric Division to run fiber optic from the Skeet and Trap facility to a multipoint wireless link that works across the park’s lake. In addition to installing cameras, Tech Services updated phones, computers and public WiFi at park facilities.
He says computer connectivity is much like a transportation network, with computers, phones, door-card access, utility payment kiosks and WiFi all linked so they can “talk” to each other. “I make sure all of the City’s technology devices have the necessary metaphorical roadways, sidewalks, parking lots, railways, flight paths and shipping lanes they need,” Green says.
Green has worked for the City for six years and says what he prizes most in the workplace is a willingness to help.
