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2020 Employees of the Month
December 2020
DANIEL STIEF, POLICE OFFICER III
Awarded Employee of the Month in recognition and appreciation for diligence in the performance of duties, and continuous work to improve the department and educate the community.
Recently, Police Officer Daniel Stief observed a vehicle parked in a local park in the very early morning when the park was closed. He made contact with the occupants of the vehicle. He could have easily advised the occupants that the park was closed and told them to leave, but he went beyond that simple task to investigate the situation. Because of his diligence, a juvenile was protected from further victimization, and an assault was stopped.
Officer Stief continually puts forth a high level of effort with investigative skills in his daily work and also exercises the same diligence to improve the Police Department. He is active in speaking at schools about bullying and drug prevention and he is involved in the planning and teaching of civilian classes such as R.A.D. and C.R.A.S.E.
Officer Stief is a strong and productive employee of the City of Gainesville Police Department.
October 2020
Jennifer Ekstrand, Code ComplianCE Officer
Awarded Employee of the Month in recognition and appreciation for hard work, dedication and initiative.
Code Compliance Officer Jennifer Ekstrand is always willing to go above and beyond to reach the goals of the Community Development Department and the City of Gainesville. Over the last few months, the Community Development Department has undergone tremendous turnover in staff. Jennifer’s work ethic shined in helping to keep the department moving with half the usual staff. In addition to the extra work due to limited staff, when the Streets Department did not have the appropriate equipment to mow the Arby’s lot to abate the high weeds and grass violation there, she took the initiative to obtain a push lawn mower and mowed the area herself.
September 2020
Matt Poursoltani, Crew Leader for Public Works-Water and Wastewater
Awarded Employee of the Month in recognition and appreciation for care and consideration for the people of the Gainesville community.
Recently, while working on a major water main break in a residential area, Matt noticed a resident struggling to take her garbage can to the curb for pickup. Matt took it upon himself to walk over to the resident and assist her in taking her garbage can to the curb. Matt had been working on the water main break since 10:30 p.m. the previous night and the resident called the Public Works Department to voice her appreciation for the “full-bearded young man working so hard on the water main break and finding the time to assist her with her garbage.” Matt offered his assistance to this resident not for recognition, but from the kindness of his heart, and this is one example of his dedication to helping the citizens of Gainesville.
August 2020
Thomas Hamilton, Police Corporal
Awarded Employee of the Month in recognition and appreciation for care and consideration for the people of the Gainesville community.
Recently, Corporal Hamilton was sent to a welfare check of an elderly individual and discovered the individual had been hospitalized several days prior to the call. While on scene, Corporal Hamilton noticed the yard needed to be mowed. Corporal Hamilton returned to the location on his next day off to mow the yard for the elderly individual.
This is one example of the many times that Corporal Hamilton has taken it upon himself to help members of our community on his own time.
June 2020
CLAY DUMAS, UTILITY SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE
Awarded Employee of the Month in recognition and appreciation for outstanding customer service and hard work.
Recently, Utility Service Representative Clay Dumas was called out after hours to assist a water customer and resident with a water emergency. The customer had high water standing under her house. The customer wrote to tell the City Manager, “Clay responded quickly and worked tenaciously to turn of the very stubborn 60-year old apparatus. He was a pleasure to deal with and represented the City well.”
Additionally, over the past couple of months, Clay has effectively been doing all meter reading functions by himself where, previously, there had been another meter reader assisting him. Certainly the City’s use of the automated Neptune meters has lessened the overall workload and allowed this efficiency to occur; however, Clay’s positive attitude in picking up any slack from the second position’s vacancy, as well as the part he has played in the extra cleaning/disinfecting of City Hall due to the COVID-19 situation, is very much appreciated by all and worthy of recognition.
May 2020
SHANE GREER, POLICE OFFICER
Awarded Employee of the Month in recognition and appreciation for meritorious conduct.
Police Officer Shane Greer was recently temporarily assigned to work in the Criminal Investigations Division. During his time in CID, he has been able to greatly assist in property and evidence with tedious and time-consuming projects. He was a great help in preparing items that will be traded to GT Distributors for agency credit, he researched over 400 blood vials associated with intoxication offenses to determine if they were eligible for destruction, inventoried 6,300 floppy and compact discs and identified those eligible for destruction, and researched paraphernalia items to identify those eligible for destruction.
In addition, Officer Greer has been gregarious, arriving to work each day ready to work, with an optimistic outlook and gracious attitude with each assignment.
MARCH 2020
DUSTIN DUNCAN, HEAVY EQUIPMENT MECHANIC
Awarded Employee of the Month in recognition and appreciation for outstanding work, teamwork and customer service.
In his short time of employment with the City of Gainesville as a Heavy Equipment Mechanic for the Garage, Dustin Duncan has demonstrated exceptional knowledge of vehicles and equipment and displayed great mechanic skills. In addition, he is good to consider budgets and works hard to make sure he works within the budgets of other departments for equipment repairs. Dustin always has a positive, "can-do" attitude and works well with all departments.
February 2020
Jo Ann Mendez, Human Resources Coordinator
Awarded Employee of the Month in recognition and appreciation for outstanding hard work and dependability.
Over the last few months, Human Resources Coordinator Jo Ann Mendez has been working as a one-person department while the Human Resources Director has been out on medical leave. While this would be a significant challenge for any person or department within the City, it seems especially challenging for HR given that HR handles a multitude of personnel situations and transactions with all departments of the City and over 200 employees. Jo Ann has done an excellent job in this respect in that all important pay, benefits, employee services, supervision issues, etc. have continued on with the same level of excellent service that we have all come to expect from our Human Resources Department.