T.O.M.
CULTURAL VALUE AWARD WINNERS

OCTOBER 2023

Kelli Baugus

Cultural value: Dedicated Service & Respect

This email was sent in by a Town of Marana resident after speaking with our animal control officer Kelli Baugus about a concern he had in his community regarding dogs off leash. "My name is Mike Clutter, and we have a dog leash problem at Sunflower. After giving up on our management I called Kelly. I am so impressed with her, she came to my house, told me all the rules and took the info I had. I am sure she is going to take care of everything." Kelli, after speaking with Mr. Clutter followed through with contacting people Mr. Clutter had information on that were allowing their dogs to be off leash in the community. She was able to make contact with one party, educated this person and will be following up with another dog owner. The next day Kelli went to this community area to speak with the additional dog owner. Kelli was observed by a community member, who then activated her car alarm system, as Kelli drove through the parking area, several other members activated their car alarm systems too. It appears Kelli's quick and thorough response to Mr. Clutter's concern was not taken lightly, but was effective with the community, with their behavior of activating car alarms systems when the animal control officer is seen driving in and through the Sunflower Community. Due to Kelli's immediate response to Mr. Clutter and the task at hand, she was able to create a positive affect to curb the reported dogs off leash violations and educate Mr. Clutter, where he felt heard, respected and the commitment Kelli had into resolving this situation. That's five-star service! The next day Kelli received a phone call from Mr. Clutter advising, he had the dog park all to himself that morning. No dogs or people.

ROBERTA AYERS

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

Despite being new in her role Roberta takes every opportunity to provide 5 star service to her customers by being approachable, helpful and ensuring her customers leave with a solution. Roberta recently demonstrated our cultural value of dedicated service when assisting one of our citizens with a dog license renewal, below is what the customer had to say about their interaction. “I go to get my dog tags every year in Sept. One year I tried to get dog tags thru the mail. I will never do that again. Horrific. Sept 18, I went to the Town of Marana Office to pay and receive proof of paying for dog tag. I went into the office with the 117 pound rottweiler. I was shocked”. Delightfully “shocked”. In the office were two women, Roberta and Victoria, they assisted. They were nice, fabulous, attentive, with knowledge and results. I have never been treated with such kindness in a business-like manner. They took the time and went the extra moment to appreciate the customer. Please keep them working there. Give them a raise. Make sure they get the pat on the back they deserve. The genuine and service you provided this customer is a perfect example of the 5 star service our citizens deserve and have come to expect from us. Thank you for continuing to live our cultural values every day, keep up the amazing work!

VICTORIA HUERTA

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

Victoria demonstrated our cultural value of dedicated service by providing friendly, attentive, and genuine service to her customers. Despite being brand new to her role, Victoria ensures she takes ownership of her customers and addresses all of their concerns while respecting their time during their visit. In a recent interaction a customer had this to say about her interaction with Victoria. “I go to get my dog tags every year in Sept. One year I tried to get dog tags thru the mail. I will never do that again. Horrific. Sept 18, I went to the Town of Marana Office to pay and receive proof of paying for dog tag. I went into the office with the 117 pound rottweiler. I was “shocked”. Delightfully “shocked”. In the office were two women, Roberta and Victoria, they assisted. They were nice, fabulous, attentive, with knowledge and results. I have never been treated with such kindness in a business-like manner. They took the time and went the extra moment to appreciate the customer. Please keep them working there. Give them a raise. Make sure they get the pat on the back they deserve. The genuine service you provided this customer is a perfect example of the 5 star service our citizens deserve and have come to expect from us. Thank you for continuing to live our cultural values, keep up the amazing work!

september 2023

MIKE ECKELBARGER, MELANIE STOUGH & LORI SHEPPARD

Cultural value: Teamwork

This recognition is for Mike Eckelbarger, Melanie Stough and Lori Sheppard. Animal Services received a call from AZ Dept of Health Services, requesting that we assist Sahuarita PD on a bat that had contact with two dogs and needed to be tested for rabies. The Town of Sahuarita is currently without an animal control officer and the PD staff did not know how to process a bat or set up the quarantine on the dogs. Melanie was the office contact that worked with many different entities to include the owner of the dog to orchestrate the assist. Mike went to Sahuarita to retrieve the bat, complete the required paperwork and transport the bat to the lab for testing. Lori & Mike worked with the Sahuarita PD staff on how to properly quarantine the dog and what to do once the rabies testing results came back. This included multiple after normal work hours calls to Lori from the officer handling the incident. I would like to say how appreciative I am for the outstanding service this team provided to another municipality. Thank you for showing southern AZ what amazing staff the Town of Marana has.

MIKE ECKELBARGER

Cultural value: Dedicated Service

The following email was sent to the Town regarding an interaction they had with our animal control officer Mike Eckelbarger. When the owner is cited and still sends an appreciation email, that says something about the outstanding respect and service they were provided.

To Whom This May Concern: We wish to express our appreciation for the outstanding service provided by an officer in Marana's Animal Services Department. On May 14, 2023, our dog, Dusty, was involved in an incident that prompted a call for Officer Eckelbarger's assistance. Despite my husband receiving a "Dog at Large" citation, Officer Eckelbarger conducted himself in a remarkably pleasant, fair, and professional manner throughout this challenging situation. The Town of Marana should take pride in having such an exemplary officer on their team, and we believe Officer Eckelbarger deserves recognition for his exceptional professionalism. If this email is not directed to the appropriate recipient, please forward it to the relevant person or department. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Nancy & Steve Miller

JASON HENSHAW, ANDREW BAHR & JESUS FELIX

Cultural value: Dedicated Service, Respect, Teamwork & Innovation & Leadership

On Saturday, August 5th 2023 at approximately 1:00 p.m., Marana Water received a call from Doug Greenland, General Manager of CMID. He informed our staff that their production well went down. That well provides non-potable water for Gladden Farms and Rancho Marana. During that time, there was a huge influx of calls regarding their water outage. With approval from Paul Martinez, Water Operations Manager… Jason Henshaw, Andrew Bahr , and Jesus Felix responded quickly to help with this crises. They were able to provide two inlets to CMID system from Marana Water with meters and backflow preventer devices. With Marana Water's help, CMID's service was back on by 3:00pm. Monday morning, CMID established temporary accounts with the billing staff until they were able to repair their well issue which was the following Wednesday. This is an example of being great stewards of the community and cooperation with our sister agencies.

JULY 2023

Stefanie Bruhn, Tabitha O'Brien, Dianna Lopez, Kelly McCoy, Rachelle Fox, Jonathan Grove, Rachel Frey

Cultural value: Respect and Teamwork

Each May, the nation celebrates National Law Enforcement Appreciation Week. For the past few years, a group of dispatchers has taken the initiative and gone above and beyond to show their appreciation to the officers of the Town of Marana Police Department. The group was spearheaded by Stefanie Bruhn and Tabitha O'Brien. The pair recruited additional help and resources from within Dispatch. As a team and using their own personal funds, they spent countless hours collecting, creating, and assembling bags and other items made custom to each officer. This year they made, by hand, personalized keychains for each officer with their badge number prominently displayed. This group displayed the epitome of teamwork and respect! Gestures such as this annual undertaking of countless hours spent crafting their gifts which are funded by them personally is a huge bolster to the relationship between dispatch and patrol and solidifies the family-oriented culture we continually strive for here at the Marana Police Department and Town of Marana. For these reasons, I proudly nominate the listed dispatchers for a Town of Marana Cultural Value Award in the categories of Teamwork and Respect.

JUNE 2023

Allison mckearney

Cultural value: Dedicated Service

Tonight Alison assisted an employee who found themselves locked out of an area of the building and away from their badge and personal belongings. Alison remotely figured out how to navigate a system she's unfamiliar with, and which is not very easy to navigate without much experience, and was able to provide the employee access back into the area of the building where their badge and personal belongings were located. Her resourcefulness to navigate the system and provide customer service to this employee in need was done with the absolute best of character. I am fortunate to have her on my team, and I can say without a doubt that she followed through in such a way that I would have done nothing differently. Service to others is a rare quality to come naturally. Alison represents dedication to this, even in the face of frustrating or otherwise unknown circumstances.

JACOB JAEGER

Cultural value: Respect & Teamwork

Jacob has shown his willingness to help anyone in need. Marana Chambers will borrow chairs from our department every now and then and when they call to reserve they will request that Jacob deliver because of the kindness and respect he shows when delivering and picking up. Jacob has a very busy Sports Program that has him busy year round but will not hesitate to drop what he is doing to help someone in need.

JACOB CRISS AND JOHNNY ARVIZU

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service, Respect, & Teamwork

Second source irrigation water (CMID) is provided to homes in the Gladden Farms and Rancho Marana neighborhoods. This requires that backflow prevention assemblies (BPAs) be installed and tested annually at each residence to protect the Marana Water system. Compliance discrepancies were discovered which initiated on-site inspections of over 1200 backflow assemblies installed in these neighborhoods. These inspections entailed knocking on every door to make contact with customers, identifying BPA serial numbers (not always easily accessible), confirming meter numbers (digging out buried meters), and confirming the status of the CMID service (locked or unlocked). It was determined during initial planning of these inspections that it would take close to a year to complete. Jake and JR teamed up and took the lead on these on-site inspections and had them completed in five months (January to May 2023). They collected accurate data and efficiently handled any customer concerns that developed. Their hard work and dedication will ensure that our backflow program is accurate and up to date.

MAY 2023

JAMAL FRANCIS

Cultural value: Teamwork

Recently, one of the bus shelters located near the health center received some damage to the trash container that was constructed as part of the overall steel structure. The steel trash insert had been removed, damaged and discarded in the adjacent lot. JR Burns was tasked with trying to fix the damaged trash container. Jamal Francis offered up his welding skills to help JR with the fix due to significant damage to the steel insert. Jamal completed a fantastic welding job to get the trash container back in working order. This is a great example of teamwork between two departments working together to provide 5-star service.

APRIL 2023

JEFF ROWE & MICHAEL WOELK

Cultural Values: Dedicated service, Teamwork, Innovation & Leadership

The entire fleet of MPD patrol computers and vehicles were running into a deadline of service changes due to the removal of lower/older bands of wireless internet connectivity with Verizon. As a quick and innovative solution, it was collectively decided that we would move to Firstnet as an internet service provider. The catch with this is that we did not have the SIM cards, nor the service account, to make this happen. We met with Firstnet representatives and came up with a plan. This plan's initiation date was at a time when I could not be present, so they coordinated and executed this with their own methods.

On the day of the SIM arrival for Firstnet, Jeff and Michael worked a total of 18 hours across all patrol shifts to make this transition happen before the service cutoff from Verizon. They also followed through with any devices that were absent during the primary day. In total, this move of over 140 SIMs was a very large undertaking and was done in such a way that it represents the best qualities of our team. Without them taking this on, our officers would have lost a great deal of their capabilities in the field. They came through for our town, and are both examples of dedication, teamwork, and exemplary service to our staff.

RICK SIEGER

Cultural Value: Dedicated service

In December of 2022, Officer Gabe Tapia of the Marana Police Department approached Chief Nunez to seek approval to place period-correct Marana Police Department decals on a restored police vehicle, a 1987 Chevrolet Caprice, for the upcoming 2023 Marana Founders Day Parade. Chief Nunez approved the decal project in an effort to connect with the community and show a bit of the town’s heritage. A few days prior to the parade, Officer Tapia prepared the vehicle to be parade show-ready. The morning of the parade arrived. Officer Tapia attempted to start the vehicle, however the vehicle did not start. The Founders Day Parade was scheduled to be the restored police vehicle’s first debut. Efforts to start the vehicle by Officer Tapia were unsuccessful. Officer Tapia immediately reached to Rick Sieger – Fleet Services Technician II. Rick immediately answered his phone and Officer Tapia provided Rick with the symptoms. Rick instantly diagnosed the problem and provided Officer Tapia with a solution to get the vehicle started. It was determined the starter had seized. Rick provided Officer Tapia with step-by-step instructions to temporarily repair the problem and get the vehicle started. Rick’s directions proved to be successful. The vehicle started and Officer Tapia made it in time to be a part of the parade as originally planned.

If it was not for Rick’s speedy expertise and advice, the restored police vehicle would have never had its debut in the 2023 Founders Day Parade. This one example of the countless number of times that Rick has gone out of his way and, above and beyond to help all members of the town. Rick’s gallantry and commitment to serve the town's needs are second to none. For the reasons mentioned above, I would like to nominate Rick Sieger for the Dedicated Service TOM Award.

DUSTIN WARD

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Teamwork

Earlier this month, Town Manager Rozema received a letter from AMH Development and Borderland Construction related to services rendered by Dustin Ward and Erik Christenson. In short, both gentlemen went above and beyond to help expedite plan reviews and resolve field issues that allowed the Remington Ranch project to continue moving forward. AMH and Borderland representatives expressed a great deal of gratitude for the professionalism and proactive approach each took to help address the identified issues. Their efforts clearly demonstrated DEDICATED SERVICE and TEAMWORK in their willingness to work together with both internal and external stakeholders, as well as being flexible while also very responsive.

MICHELE MURRIETA

Cultural Value: Teamwork

“While cleaning out trash from the evidence impound yard, I accidentally threw away my town vehicle's key into the dumpster. Initial searches for the key were unsuccessful. I asked Michele if she would help me empty the very full dumpster in an attempt to find the key and Michele immediately agreed. In full personal protective gear, we emptied a very smelly dumpster and located the key. Michele is the picture of Teamwork! “

ERIK CHRISTENSON

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

For the Remington Ranch development, a flaw was identified on a plan set affecting the start of sewer construction scheduled to begin in the week of 4/3/23. Development Services staff coordinated closely with the project consultant on Friday, March 31st to arrive at a viable solution and agreed to review the corresponding plan over the weekend. Erik and his staff from Marana Water also provided same-day review and approval of the proposed solution. During this process, Erik Christenson was instrumental in resolving the matter expeditiously and allowing construction to proceed without any delay. This is a great example of Marana Water staff demonstrating the Town's mission and cultural value of dedicated service. AMH Development and Borderland Construction have also recognized the above-and-beyond service by Erik Christenson and his staff at Marana Water on the Remington Ranch project.

KAULANA BREITENBACH

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

Kaulana is being nominated for this award due to his commitment to the Town’s core values. The Water Department operates two new state of the art water treatment plants. Due to new regulatory requirements, the department is continuously being asked for tours and advice on this new technology. Kaulana has volunteered to take the lead on providing information and tours at our facilities. He has always been prepared and thorough during tours. He has been complimented on his expertise and tremendously helpful to operators and engineers considering constructing new facilities. He exhibits dedicated service by making time to represent the Town to other water providers as well as current town personnel.

MARCH 2022

CAYLEE BAKER

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

In an effort to raise awareness, promote safety and remain compliant, the Town has to assign annual training for most, if not all its employees. At times the trainings can feel redundant, boring or like a chore to get through. Being a trainer isn't easy. Speaking in front of large crowds of your co-workers can be intimidating to some, terrifying to others. This month Detective Caylee Baker taught Active Shooter (Attacker) training to hundreds of Town employees. She taught six separate sessions with enthusiasm, wit and care. Detective Baker answered all employee questions thoughtfully and insightfully. She handled a serious and somewhat scary topic with grace and lightened the mood with some seriously corny jokes when she could. Detective Baker stepped up personally and professionally and made what could have been a sleeper of a class, informative, insightful and even entertaining. Six times! I believe Detective Baker exemplifies the core value of Dedicated Service by taking on this challenge, delivering an excellent training, and handling this extra increase to her workload.

FEBRUARY 2022

JENNIFER FLOOD

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

I am honored to nominate Jennifer Flood for the Cultural Award of Dedicated Service. Starting in late July, early August of FY2022, Jennifer began assisting the CIP Division within Public Works as there was a transition in the Department’s Leadership and assistance was required. It was evident from the onset that Jennifer was highly professional and extremely capable. I was impressed so much that I asked her to join Public Works as the Deputy Director and she accepted. Fast forward, please see the text below that is pulled directly from an email that I received from Terry Rozema exhibiting Jennifer's assistance and professionalism on a recent item.

Fausto, I wanted to share some feedback about Jen and how she helped Erik and me out this week, I had a request from a group of citizens to meet with them about the possible (re)listing of the pygmy owl on the endangered/threatened species list. I was given a heads up that they wanted to know what the Town is doing and that they intended to make a request that we implement the County’s conservation plan. Erik and I reached out to Jen and we had a meeting yesterday to pick her brain and to discuss our approach to the meeting. Jen did an excellent job of providing us with information and helping us understand what options were available and how she believed it would be best to handle the situation going forward and how best to convey that information in the meeting. The meeting occurred today at 3 and was attended by four residents who took turns expressing their concerns and making their requests, and from that point on, it was the Jennifer Flood show. I wish you could have been there to hear how she handled the room. Erik, Andrea and myself just sat back with our popcorn and watched the show. It was beautiful. She was knowledgeable, articulate and understanding, but it wasn’t just the information she conveyed, it was also the delivery of the information that left everyone in the room impressed and grateful that she works for the Town. She represented the entire organization in a highly favorable light and demonstrated the level of high professionalism and competence we are blessed to have with so many of our staff. I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to let you know what a great job she did. Thank you, Terry S. Rozema Town Manager.

REYNA CELIS

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service, Respect, Teamwork and Innovation & Leadership

Due to staffing issues, the AgreeDB forms that are used for contracts throughout the Town were not being entered. As a result there was a backlog on these forms which could result in lack of notification of expired contracts or outdated certificates of insurance. Reyna offered to step in and help with this issue and has devoted a tremendous amount of time and resources to getting the backlog entered, entering more AgreeDB forms as they come in, and correcting any other issues along the way. Most importantly, she has communicated with various employees along the way and explained the "why" behind AgreeDB and how best to use it. This has required her to do extra research on internal processes and reach out to many, many Town employees for information to input in the system. The fact that Reyna not only volunteered to help with this, but that she has gone above and beyond to communicate with stakeholders and learn more about it exemplifies all of the Town's Cultural Values.

SAMUEL BROCK

Cultural Value: Teamwork and Innovation & Leadership

Samuel Brock was contacted to help the Police Department background investigators with streamlining and creating online forms. Prior to Samuel's help, investigators would have to spend copious amounts of time hand writing the forms and using phone calls to obtain answers to questions on the forms. Samuel quickly jumped to assist and created online forms via Seamless Docs where investigators could simply send a link to a recipient to complete the form on their own. The new online form system Samuel created has undoubtably cut down time on investigations and paper use. The process of creating the system was tedious and required Samuel to meet several times to better understand the goals of the investigators. During these meetings Samuel was heavily engaged, supportive, informative and expressed his desire to take on this project.

december 2022

carmen martinez and lori sheppard

Cultural Value: Respect

I would like to recognize Carmen Martinez and Lori Sheppard for the extra effort they put in to help out some very low income residents whose dog was escaping the yard. Lori donated an 80# bag of concrete that Carmen delivered to the family to help them fill in the area where the dog was escaping. Carmen also took the time to show the family different types of muzzles that their dog needed to be wearing when in public. The family had limited transportation so Carmen helped them find the muzzle on Amazon and explained to them how to order it. Carmen and Lori gave outstanding customer service and treated these resident like they were family, with dignity and respect.

november 2022

JASON FLOOD

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service, Respect & Teamwork

Mayor Honea has been searching for specific historical photos. We checked various storage areas at Town Hall with no luck. I suggested that the Mayor look at the Heritage House. After checking the Heritage House with no luck there either, Jason Flood heard that the Mayor was at the Heritage House looking for historical photos. He knew there was a storage room that the Mayor could not have access to because the maintenance department has the only key. Jason went to the Heritage House on his own to check for those photos. I received a call from Jason describing the photos he found. Not only those were some of the photos the Mayor was looking for but he also brought them over to Town Hall so the Mayor could have them immediately. Jason demonstrated dedicated service by going the extra mile on his own. Jason respected our values because he knows how important Marana's Heritage is to the Mayor and Town Council. Jason contacted me immediately when he found some of the photos in a file cabinet and brought them to me. That's team work.

GUS LIPINS

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service & Teamwork

In September there was a rise in citizen complaints about construction site noise in the early hours. Development Services and Building were working with us to address the concerns from the community. By accident Gus Lipins was CC'd on an email chain regarding a woman being disturbed by extremely loud equipment. It wasn't until Gus emailed back the outcome that we realized the message had gone to the wrong person. He went above and beyond by visiting the woman personally and finding a solution with the site's Performance Award Superintendent. The residents of the community were very happy with the solutions and we haven't had any further complaints. Gus could have forwarded the message on to the correct person, but instead he took it upon himself to help out and provided exceptional 5 star service.

september 2022

CHRISTINE BYLER

Cultural Value: Respect

Christine received a call from an elderly resident that was in need of dog food for her three dogs. While Christine worked on finding her various options in the community where she could get food, she found out that the woman was completely out of food and was not getting paid for another five days. Christine went to the store and bought her enough dog food to last her a couple of weeks. The resident was very appreciative of her very thoughtful and kind gesture.

RODRIGO CEJA

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

As the Town Manager Terry Rozema illustrated in his September "Manager Moments", outside Marana Municipal Complex, Marana Water employee Rigo Ceja saw a lady who seemed lost. Rigo went to her and asked if she needed help. The lady was looking for Marana Chamber of Commerce, which is still quite far away from where they were. Instead of merely pointing the direction, Rigo offered to take her there. After they arrived at the Chamber of Commerce Building, Rigo opened the door for the lady, shook her hand hand, and said have a great day. Little things make a difference. The lady was so impressed that she told everybody about the "five star" service the Town staff provided. These kinds of actions are so impactful. Rigo is our construction inspector. He is always kind and strives for high level of commitment to work and public services. For that, I would like to nominate Rigo Ceja for the Cultural Value Award of the Town.

JR BURNS

Cultural Value: Teamwork

We had a pretty bad storm around the MMC in the late afternoon on 9/21. When JR got in the next morning he noticed there were lots of downed trees around the MMC. JR asked to go help out the Parks crew with the significant cleanup that needed to be done. He got the community trailer and was able to assist Dale and other Parks crews in loading all of the down trees around the complex area. A total of three trailer loads were collected in just the community trailer alone, not to mention the other trailers that the Parks crew were using. This was quite the storm that hit the area and all of the teamwork between departments to get the area cleaned up in less than a a day was amazing.

JR BURNS & ADAM KIRBY

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service, Respect & Teamwork

I would like to recognize JR Burns and Adam Kirby for their dedicated service and teamwork on two separate occasions over the last two weeks. Animal Services received a call from a resident in Honea Heights. She was older, disabled, going blind and didn’t drive. Her dog of 18 years died a few days ago and she could not find anyone to help her bury the dog in the yard. She was very upset and asked if there was anything we could do to help her. I called up JR and Adam and explained the situation. Without hesitation, they both said they would head right over to help her out. Certainly not what they thought they would be doing on a Friday afternoon, but very much appreciated by our resident and me.

MELANIE STOUGH

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

I would like to share a very nice email we received from a resident that Melanie Stough assisted. Melanie always goes above and beyond to help our residents and this time was no exception. This particular morning, Melanie received a fairly lengthy email listing many concerns from Ms. Sciannameo regarding two dogs she owned. Melanie was very thorough in her response and made sure Ms. Sciannameo had all the information she needed. Below is the email we received. It is wonderful when someone from outside the organization takes the time to recognizes the dedication and respect of our employees.

“Good afternoon, I had the occasion, once again to work with Melanie Stough of the City of Marana today. I have worked with one or two prior occasions and I am not sure why I did, I have lived in my home ten years now so it could have been for a number of reasons but each time I see her name I am grateful that it is she I have made contact with. This time the contact came to me from her first because I adopted a new puppy and she was following up with me because I had not included her rabies vaccination. I sent in the license material a bit before Elizabeth, my puppy was old enough for the vaccine and had already sent the vaccine certificate back, and then responded to Melanie and we resolved the issue.Over the past week, it became imperative for me to re-home one my beloved French Bulldogs, Beauregard to a one dog home because he and Romeo were escalating their distaste for one another. As a former breeder of French and English Bulldogs I could see that this was not going to turn out well and I made a difficult decision and found what we ethical breeders do, “a home equal to or better than our own, with a responsible person to love him.” I found [citizen name]. This was first re-homing I had done in this state. I am in Marana, she in Tucson, we did not know how to change the chip and I turned to Melanie who thoroughly and promptly answered us and also updated my records with Marana to reflect that I own only two dogs because the records had not been updated to reflect two of my other dogs which had gone over the rainbow bridge. Her answers were clear and concise, included links and in my experience as a retired NYPD Police Lieutenant if I had someone on my team like Melanie I would want to get a letter like this saying what an assets she is to my team. I am sure you know this already about Melanie, but she is a super star. Thank you for having folks on your team that are doing their job and more!” - Carol Sciannameo

CAYLEE BAKER, LIBBY SHELTON & KELLI BAUGUS

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service, Respect and Teamwork

I would like to nominate Caylee Baker, Libby Shelton and Kelli Baugus for a Cultural Value Award for their outstanding work handling a police and animal situation that occurred on 9/11/22. I will not be sharing the details of the case, but would like to commend these ladies on their incredible work on this case. The incident occurred on Sunday evening and Detective Baker and ACO Baugus were both called out after hours to assist. Deputy Town Attorney Libby Shelton was notified of the case prior to work on Monday morning. In one day, Detective Baker did extensive research to find many other incidents involving this same individual and his dog. She read reports, watched and documented all the body camera footage and was able to provide Libby with all the needed supporting documentation for the case that she was putting together. Due to the time sensitive nature of the case, Libby was able to file for an emergency court hearing the following day. On Monday night at approximately 9:30pm, the PD located the individual that needed to be notified of the court hearing the next day. ACO Baugus was called out and about 10:30pm she met with the individual to go over his options and ultimately serve him with the court hearing paperwork for the next day. I would like to commend these three ladies for all their work in handling this case from start to finish in under two days. I know there was also a tremendous amount of support work that went on in PD, Legal and the Courts to make this happen. I am very grateful to everyone.

FREYA ARENSEN, RICHELLE VALENZUELA & NOLETTE HERNANDEZ

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

Freya Arnesen, Richelle Valenzuela, and Nolette Hernandez have been instrumental in successfully maintaining continuity of operations and high service levels in the Town Clerk's Office during a period of transition. The transition came at a critical time when multiple tight deadlines were approaching, including a deadline related to canvassing the official election results for the August 2, 2022 primary election. They have risen to the occasion, and I am very grateful for their professionalism, expertise, and dedicated service to the Town during this time. Hats off to each of them!

ELLEN SEDIG

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

On Friday, August 26, Park Maintenance Associate III, Ellen Sedig was completing her assigned tasks at Heritage River Park. Ellen took extra steps to search the restrooms as there had been an incident at this location in recent weeks involving contraband. In her search, Ellen discovered contraband that was packaged in such a way that it appeared to have been intended to be retrieved and snuck into the prison by an inmate performing work as part of a crew at Heritage River Park. Ellen immediately contacted Marana Police. She then contacted her Supervisor who alerted the prison. Ellen's actions allowed Law Enforcement and Prison officials the opportunity to complete a thorough investigation. Additionally her actions may have prevented a citizen or another employee from possible exposure to a dangerous substance. Ellen is a valuable member of the Parks and Recreation Team. Her thoughtful approach to her job should be recognized.

JUly 2022

vincent jenkins

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

On 8/10/22, Detective Jenkins was driving his unmarked Town of Marana Police vehicle. In the area of Twin Peaks and the westbound on-ramp, he attempted to make the right turn to get onto the I-10. As he turned, he observed a sedan make a U-turn on the on ramp, and begin driving against traffic. Detective Jenkins, activated the emergency equipment on his unmarked Police vehicle, and selflessly positioned himself in front of this vehicle. Upon stopping, Detective Jenkins contacted the driver, a young mother who had lost her purse in the area the night prior. The woman had observed contents from her purse on the side of the road and in her frantic state had flipped around to collect the items. Detective Jenkins then assisted the woman by canvassing the area, helping her locate not only her purse, but almost all of the contents from within. Detective Jenkins contacted Marana Streets, who also responded to assist with getting the woman's social security card from a nearby drainage ditch. Detective Jenkins’ actions show his commitment to the citizens of Marana....had this woman been attempting to use her vehicle as a means of hurting unsuspecting motorists, Detective Jenkins was willing to place his vehicle and himself in her way to keep the public safe. Thankfully, this incident turned out to be nothing more than a panicked young mother in need of a helping hand.

BRENDAN O’CONNOR, JASON FLOOD, MARIO LUNA, JOHN KAIAMA, JAMAL FRANCIS, KIANG SAYANALY & TONY SMITH

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Teamwork

Between May 23, 2022, and June 25, 2022, the Marana Police Department's Communications Center underwent a much-needed remodel and upgrade to a more modern, state-of-the-art 9-1-1 public safety answering point. Because of the essential public safety function provided by this unit, the timeline for the project was fairly aggressive and required a great deal of coordination between both internal and external stakeholders. In order to accomplish this undertaking successfully, the Town of Marana Facilities Team worked tirelessly to ensure that their portions of the project were completed as scheduled. This included disassembling and removing the existing dispatch consoles, preparing for the new electricity requirements, refreshing the paint as needed, and replacing ceiling tiles, among other responsibilities. The Town of Marana Facilities Team was integral in the successful and on-time completion of this project and deserves recognition.

MIKE PEREZ, TONY O’BRIEN, DAN BEJARANO & WILL CARR

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Teamwork

In order to accomplish this undertaking successfully, the Town of Marana Technology Services Team also worked tirelessly to ensure that their portions of the Communications Center remodel project were completed as scheduled. Long hours and late nights were the norm during the TS phases of the project. Their responsibilities included disassembling and removing the existing technology, preparing for the new network requirements, installing new equipment, and troubleshooting network issues, among other responsibilities. The Town of Marana Technology Services Team was integral in the successful and on-time completion of this project and deserves recognition.

garrett mcminn, pam sempel, amber vega, maritza valenzuela & carla donaldson

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

Each day our team does our best to provide excellent customer service to everyone. Recently an applicant came to the counter and worked with several staff members and he later took the time to write the below email to show his appreciation for the service he received. Thank you all for your continued effort.

"I owned a company for 27 years and found that complaints are easier for customers to write about as the emotion is heightened and services are expected to be courteous, knowledgeable, helpful, and time sensitive, to name a few. However increasingly this is not the case - so when the staff of a growing, busy city exhibits these qualities and seems to do so with enthusiasm it is refreshing and greatly appreciated. While this seems to be the culture in this department and I have some confidence that is the case. I would like to note some of the staff directly - Garrett, Pam, in fact all of the women (Amber and Maritza) in the front office and Carla Donaldson in right of way. Thank you for the professional assistance that we received.” - John Reddis

rigoberto almader

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Respect

Rigoberto "Tony" Almader was sent out to perform a service disconnect in order to transfer an account to the customer name. As a courtesy he knocked on the door to give the customer time to call and set up their service. The customer immediately became angry, physical and verbally abusive. Neighbors witnessed the situation and said Tony was calm, respectful and polite throughout the whole situation. He was able to de-escalate the situation and leave without further issue. Tony should be considered for a cultural award for respect and dedicated service. His professionalism displays how the Town of Marana core values are represented in the community.

JUNE 2022

SHELBY SCHEER

Cultural Value: Innovation & Leadership

In her short time here at the Town, Shelby has proven time and time again that she is a huge asset to the Parks & Recreation team. She had to hit the ground running as two large Town events were already in the works on her first days as the Special Events Supervisor. Shelby has also added the Concerts in the Courtyard events at the MMC which have proven to be a new Town favorite and very popular. Shelby's innovation and resourcefulness in bringing together all of the bands, vendors and Town partners like Northwest Fire proves that she is a strong and essential addition to the already fantastic Parks & Recreation team. Not to mention the securing a fireworks vendor for the Star Spangled Spectacular despite a nationwide fireworks shortage! We look forward to seeing what she comes up with next!

JASON HENSHAW AND LOUIS VALENCIA

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service, Respect and Teamwork

I recently had the pleasure to work with two of your employees over the las t couple of days. Jason Henshaw and Louis Valencia, concerning my new water service. My well went down and these two went above and beyond to make sure my new meter was activated so we were without water for less than a day. They are both very knowledgeable and a pleasure to deal with. They are a credit to not only the Water Department but the Town as a whole.

MAY 2022

EDWARD KAROSAS

When it comes to electrical work, Ed holds a wealth of knowledge. He is a team player, patient, and is an excellent co-worker. He has partnered with SCADA to upgrade Water and Waste Water sites in house. Ed and SCADA recently upgraded Saguaro Bloom Lift Station controls and electrical. Together, we saved the Town on contractor lead time, design, installation, and testing expenses. The Water Department is proud of his contribution towards developing an organization of excellence.

march 2022

Eric Avenente and Charles Giarrizzo

Cultural value: Dedicated Service

The Marana Regional Airport received an email today from Mr. Chuck Pinney, President of the Tucson Soaring Club thanking Eric Avenente and Charles Giarrizzo for their help on Sunday, March 20, 2022. The Tucson Soaring Club from El Tiro glider port did a landout training at Marana Regional Airport. On a day the winds were at times quite challenging, Eric and Charles were critical to the success of all the trainees who gained valuable experience in radio communication, managing their glide paths to integrate into the traffic patterns with other general aviation traffic, landing on hard surface runways and dealing with sizeable crosswinds. The group flew 24 flights over the 6-hour window (0900-1500), putting 5.4 hours on two gliders, training 8 students, 4 CFIGs, 4 tow pilots, and 6 line chiefs. In the email, Mr. Chuck Pinney stated, “Without their help, our operations would have been less efficient. We also enjoyed their warm hospitality.” It is this type of “dedicated to Service Excellence” that makes the Town of Marana employees leaders in our community.

February 2022

November 24, 2021

Nolette Hernandez: town clerk

Cultural Value: Respect

I received an email from Nate Ward who acknowledged Nolette for her outstanding customer service when assisting him. See below:

I had the pleasure of interacting with Nolette over the last couple of weeks whilst attempting to get the building plans for my house. I wanted to have them to assist in planning future improvements to the property. After discovering that I couldn’t simply download the plans from the website, I imagined that this process would be time-consuming and filled with red tape. I was happy to receive a response from Nolette to my request very quickly with precise instructions on what was needed, and she quickly responded to each subsequent clarification that I asked for. She also checked on my request numerous times throughout the whole process, and really just made the whole experience enjoyable. I have usually been underwhelmed when it comes to the customer service of public employees, but I really wanted to highlight how wonderful and helpful Nolette was. I hope that this email will help serve as a positive review for her, and for any future performance reviews that she has in her public career. Thank you for your time!

October 5, 2021

September 7, 2021

AUGUST 9, 2021

July 19, 2021

JUNE 22, 2021

JUNE 3, 2021

June 1, 2021

May 17, 2021

MAY 11, 2021

MARCH 29, 2021

FEBRUARY 19, 2021

DECEMBER 28, 2020

December 11, 2020

RANDY KORTH: POLICE

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

On 11/29/2020 Ofc Korth investigated an illegally-dumped load along Cochie Canyon Trail and within state trust land and town limits. A full trailer’s-worth of household trash, soiled clothing, and tires were left in an otherwise pristine patch of desert. While these are often considered dead-end cases due to lack of information, Ofc Korth took time to gather evidence, photograph and compare tire impressions, and solicit information and confessions from suspects and witnesses. Ofc Korth was able to arrest multiple subjects responsible for dumping the same load, which is very uncommon. In the process of investigating this case he also located and arrested a subject who had a felony arrest warrant for an unrelated vehicle theft.

Ofc Korth mentioned while investigating this case he saw several other illegally-dumped loads, including rotting couches and other furniture, in the trust land. His unparalleled service in this incident arose from his frustration that so many people are committing this crime due to their unwillingness to pay a $12 fee at a landfill. He convinced the responsible parties to voluntarily clean up their own mess, and he is working with the regulators of the trust land to better prevent, deter, and investigate similar loads of illegal dumping in the area.

November 19, 2020

CHESTER MANNING, KEVIN GOODRICH, AND OLIVIA SALAZAR: PARKS & RECREATION

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Teamwork

Chester, Kevin, and Olivia are recognized for providing 53 Town employees with First Aid/CPR/AED training in November. While all three are certified trainers, it is not part of their regular job duties to provide this valuable training to their co-workers. Training 53 employees required 9 separate sessions, plus the amount of time required of Chester, Kevin, and Olivia to plan and prepare for the trainings. Their dedication to this important and potentially lifesaving training and their teamwork in working with co-workers to schedule and carry out these training sessions, are strong examples of our cultural values.

November 6, 2020

October 20, 2020

BRENDAN O’CONNOR, JASON FLOOD, JOHN TRAUGOT, TONY SMITH, ERNESTO GARCIA, MARIO LUNA, AND NICK MCCASTER: FACILITIES

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service, Respect, and Teamwork

Since COVID started affecting the Town in March, Facilities staff have been looking for and accomplishing new ways to keep all Town employees safe. Facilities have installed Plexiglas shields for any front line greeting counters to include, Courts, MMC, DSC, HR, Managers office, Parks Community Center at Ora Mae Harn, PD, Clerks and Legal Offices. They made and setup partitions so staff could come back into the office safer and sooner. They provided PPE, hand sanitizer and face masks to all departments as needed.

These modifications were accomplished all while building remodels were in full swing. HVACs went down in the middle of summer and their routine jobs needed to be completed and in a timely manner. Facilities staff has always had a good attitude and willing to help other departments when needed, even in the middle of the pandemic.

OCTOBER 15, 2020

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

August 20, 2020

August 10, 2020

LIBBY SHELTON: LEGAL

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Teamwork,

On July 24, the police department received information about a public event that was going to be held at the abandoned Breakers Water Park property involving 400-500 people, vehicle racing, a DJ and an a sundry of other activities. With potential traffic problems looming, unsafe actives, and concerns with COVID19, we began to look for ways to mitigate the problem. We were able to contact Libby Shelton from Legal, not knowing she was on vacation, who advised she was on her way home from her vacation and as soon as she got into Town she would work on drafting a letter to the property manager. Despite being told she did not have to work on this and we would seek other avenues, she insisted on helping out. She got home in the early evening and immediately went to work researching information to include in the letter. She completed the letter in short order and we were able to find the property manager later that evening and serve him the letter. After reading the letter he decided to cancel the event, a decision that saved the Town money and resources. Libby went above and beyond to help us out. I think 90 percent of people would have never even answered their phone and certainly wouldn't have volunteered to help if they were just getting back into Town from vacation. Her dedicated service and teamwork in this situation, as always, was exemplary.

EMILY LISCUM: WATER

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Teamwork

A very special thank you to Emily Liscum, a.k.a. “the MMC/MOC Move Master.” Since coming on board she has constantly been seeking ways to contribute and better the department. Her commitment to being part of the team and dedicated service to the Town was most recently displayed with her tireless efforts coordinating the move, packing, recycling, storage, records destruction, and getting everyone moved swiftly and safely. She is an incredible asset to our team and the transition to our, as she loving calls it, our “forever home” would have been a lot harder without her.

JULY 27, 2020

June 15, 2020

Matt Cordova: Finance

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service, Respect, Teamwork, and Innovation & Leadership

Matt is an essential employee to the Town and has been at the forefront of customer service during this time of uncertainty. Matt has had to ensure our customer service is still operational and address calls from the public due to Proclamations for COVID-19. The calls related to the Proclamations are typically people that are upset, fearful, confused, etc. and are very emotional conversations. Matt has handled the stress of COVID-19 and its effects with Dedicated Service, Respect, Teamwork, and Leadership.

April 8, 2019

Rich Jacinto: Public Works

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Respect

A member of the community food bank expressed her gratitude for the tremendous support the town has given to the community bank since the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. She explained that members of the Public Works Department had arrived to set up barriers and traffic control devices to ensure the safe ingress and egress of residents lining up in their vehicles to pick up food. Several hours before they were scheduled to open, a woman showed up and was told she would need to come back later. The woman began to cry saying that she didn’t have enough gas to get back home and didn’t have any food. Town of Marana Public Works employee Rick Jacinto intervened and asked the woman to follow him to the Circle K so he could fill up her tank with gas. He also gave her a $20 bill for food and told her to pay it forward. During times of crisis, we tend to see either the best fo the worst in humanity. Rick Jacinto’s act of kindness is a true display of great compassion and action, and shows all of us how we should care for others in times of trouble.

Matthew Cordova: Finance

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Teamwork

Matt has consistently gone above and beyond for the TS department during this time of uncertainty. Several urgent requests were made for printed signs for different departments, and Matt picked up the prints, trimmed, and delivered them to the recipients in a remarkably fast pace with no complaints and a smile every time. Plotter prints aren’t even in his job requirement! I would not be able to make these prints without his help.

March 27, 2020

Public Works Landscape Crews

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Teamwork

Community Services had placed four clean-up dumpsters in the San Lucas neighborhood over this past weekend. During that time, several people dumped additional trash and debris in and around the dumpsters. Woodie Smith and a crew responded quickly to assist CNS in the clean-up, which took two trips to the landfill with full trailers to properly clean the area. The crews worked quickly and efficiently, and their teamwork and assistance was greatly appreciated!

John Kaiama & Elzy Villalobos: Public Works

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

An incident in the Continental Ranch neighborhood resulted in a large puddle of oil/grease spilled down the street, and traffic was going through the chemicals and leaving tire tracks and footprints on sidewalks and driveways. Residents were directed by their HOA to contact the Town, and were pleasantly surprised to find the mess completely gone within hours. The individuals doing cleanup took the time to remove the oil smears from sidewalks and driveways. The response from all team members from the Town was efficient, courteous, and expeditious!

Heath Vescovi-Chiordi: Town Manager’s Office

Cultural Value: Teamwork

The Town Clerk’s Office needed to publish a notice on behalf of the Finance Department that needed to be published in Spanish as well as English. See that the Town did not have a contract with a translation company, and knowing that there are a handful of employees that speak Spanish, Heath was contacted to see if he could translate the public notice. Without a timeframe given, Heath was able to translate and get it back to the Town Clerk’s Office within a couple hours, allowing them to send it to the newspaper for publishing the following week.

Aubrey Lopez: Police

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Teamwork

Aubrey demonstrated selfless teamwork to the Communications team of the Police Department by assisting in Dispatch during the Police Department Awards Ceremony, so that every dispatcher could attend the ceremony to receive the recognition of Unit Citation. Stepping back under the headset is a stressful act and she volunteered without reservation. Aubrey previously worked with an Oro Valley dispatcher who was unfamiliar with our processes, so not only was Aubrey thrust back into the role, she was doing so without the support of tenured Marana dispatchers for guidance. This is a great illustration of Aubrey’s true heart for our team and an awesome example of unparalleled service.

February 24, 2020

Rob Grimaldo and Woodie Smith: Public Works

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Teamwork

HR received a request from a department for additional inmates on their inmate work crew due to a reduction in the number of inmates they had, as well as getting back logged in some work areas due to the reduced help. Unfortunately, the number of inmates available for work crews has declined and all departments are seeing a shortage in their work crews until more eligible inmates are available for the inmate work program. After communicating the situation with some of our inmate work crews who have larger crews, Rob Grimaldo and Woodie Smith volunteered to share a couple of their inmates with the department to help them catch up. Their quick response and willingness to help another department despite their own department’s needs embraces everything we strive to achieve through our Cultural Values. We are the Town of Marana, committed to providing exceptional public service and a welcoming environment that makes Marana our Town for life, regardless of the department name we operate under.

February 11, 2020

January 29, 2020

January 14, 2020

Tony O’Brien: Technology Services

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

Tony helped the Traffic Engineering group in Public Works to connect traffic signals to a central management server that is housed by the ADOT. This proved to be a difficult task because of the layers of technology, and it required collaboration with the IT department of a different agency. Tony persisted through many setbacks and frustrations, handling them with cheer and dignity. Through iterations, he was able to understand what the issues were that had been preventing establishing this connectivity and surmount them. In the process, he developed a good working relationship with ADOT and made friends in Traffic Engineering. Tony persisted over many months to achieve this, demonstrating dedicated service and tenacity.

December 17, 2019

Aubrey Lopez and kyle Kirkwood: Police

Cultural Value: Teamwork

On November 24th, the Police Communications Division participated in an event that required our attendance at an off site location. As everyone understands, 9-1-1 does not have the ability to close our services in order for all of our employees to leave their position. Officer Lopez and Officer Kirkwood volunteered to assist by utilizing their experience in our division to cover our center so that all of our personnel could participate. They both reported to our center after working their assigned midnight shifts with patrol the previous night. Stepping into the realm of emergency communications can be intimidating, and yet Aubrey and Kyle did not hesitate to take on the responsibility in order to allow their coworkers to participate with their unit. This unselfish action is a demonstration of the many ways Aubrey and Kyle extends themselves beyond expectations.

Equipment Crew: Public Works

Cultural Value: Teamwork

Our Equipment Crew has demonstrated teamwork by training Joe Hermann on a CDL Class A License. In our line of work, an equipment operator is required to obtain a Class A CDL, however thanks to the help of Joe Betancourt, Shari Howard, David Encinas, and Bill Ogle, Joe Hermann was able to achieve this goal faster than anticipated. The CDL Test has three parts to the test, with each part more difficult than the last. Thanks to each individual above, Joe was able to ride along with them to help evaluate, discuss, answer any questions, and keep Mr. Hermann at ease while training for each section. Teamwork is a daily function for any of our staff, but in this particular case, the Equipment Crew went beyond to help a coworker achieve a major goal in his career.

Jennifer Lindblom: Human Resources

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service

On a routine basis Jennifer provides outstanding customer service, and exhibits a high level of commitment to the customers HR serves. There are many examples when she goes above and beyond when helping others. A specific example occurred on December 11, 2019. Jennifer received a phone call from an employee at 5:25pm regarding a sinkhole near the employee parking lot. The employee was concerned someone would hurt themselves, so they called HR. Jennifer immediately called Facilities regarding the sinkhole to ensure immediate action would be taken to prevent injury to anyone. In addition to calling Facilities, she went to the parking lot to locate the sinkhole, and had the cleverness to get a cone from the back of a parked Town facilities truck to cover and mark the hole. Jennifer is to be commended for her quick action, initiative, and dedication to service.

Sandra Gamboa: Finance/Payroll

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Teamwork

Sandra is always willing to step in and help out whenever she can. Most recently, she heard a conversation I was having about needing to find some information and where to locate the fields needed in Munis, and I mentioned I might need some help from her. She left the meeting and immediately contact the person I was working with and starting testing the process, and was able to provide all the information I needed, all without even waiting to hear if I officially needed help. This is Sandra on a regular basis, stopping what she’s doing to help someone else even when it’s not directly related to her job responsibilities. The previous day Sandra came to help process some paperwork while our EA was out of the office and she didn’t hesitate to provide that level of service to her colleagues from another department. Thank you, Sandra for always rising above and going beyond the call of duty.

December 4, 2019

Melanie Stough and Christine Byler: Community & Neighborhood Services

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service, Respect, and Teamwork

Christine Byler and Melanie Stough went way above and beyond the call of duty to help a neighbor in need. Christine received a call from a resident who was in need of the community trailer to discard trash and other items from the home she was moving out of. The woman explained to Christine that a few months prior, she had been a victim of a domestic violence incident, and was now required to vacate the house of her ex-partner. She had most of the items prepared to throw away, however the ex-partner had canceled the trash service and she had no way of disposing the items. The community trailer was already reserved by another resident, but Christine and Melanie came by her house after they picked up the trailer to dump it. They spent two hours in the back of the trailer disposing of loaded trashcans in horrible conditions. They also bagged up a large amount of clothes that the resident wanted to throw away and took them to a donation bin so that they may help others in need. The compassion and respect they showed this woman during a very hard time in her life went a long way in helping her finish this part of her ordeal. Their extraordinary actions and willingness to help this woman in need exemplify what amazing human beings they both are and how they both live the Town’s Cultural Values.

Tony O’Brien: Technology Services

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service, Respect, Teamwork, and Innovation & Leadership

Tony was this years Turkey Mascot for the Turkey Trot. Tony volunteered his time outside of his business hours to best utilize his people skills (and dance moves) as TOM the Turkey! The task of portraying TOM the Turkey is completely outside the realm of Tony’s work responsibilities, however he was eager to be involved and interact with the community. Tony donned our new mascot suit, which is heavy and hot, and is by no means an easy task to participate in a race warm up, pose for photos, and give high fives while you are strapped inside a blazing hot six foot turkey. Tony never complained of his tasks and he rose to the occasion. He was a crowd favorite at Turkey Trot and his actions brought hundreds of smiles to Marana that day.

november 5, 2019

Kelli Baugus: CNS - Animal Control

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Teamwork

Although employed as an ACO, this incident does not involve animals, but demonstrates the teamwork exhibited by ACO Baugus on a daily basis. In September, ACO Baugus was on duty for Animal Control. While monitoring the radio for service calls she became aware of two boys, ages 10 & 12, that had gone missing from their grandmother’s home in the San Lucas neighborhood the day prior. While conducting routine patrols, ACO Baugus pulled into a vacant property in the area where she noticed two juveniles laying on the ground as if they had been sleeping in the area. Rather than risk spooking anyone, ACO Baugus pulled away to avoid drawing attention. She then immediately parked in a safe location and called Sgt. Johnson, the on-duty patrol supervisor for the shift, and notified him of what she saw. Within minutes, MPD was on scene and located the two juveniles that had been reported as runaways the day before. Because of ACO Baugus’ actions, the two boys, who were not familiar with the area, were safely reunited with their family.

Darice Larriva-Johnson: TMO - Communications

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service and Teamwork

Darice did an excellent job managing vendors for Marana Fall Festival. She has learned a lot from the past year of special events, and she played a lead role in approving vendors, acquiring their paperwork and working with Lori Dart, and coordinating the vendor check-in process. Vendor check-in is a tedious and important job that requires patience and the ability to work with many personalities. Darice was attentive, productive, and showed a deep passion for her work. As a result of her excellent work, over 30 vendors had a positive experience working with the Town at one of our prominent special events.

Monique Hagberg: TMO - Communications

Cultural Value: Dedicated Service, Respect, Teamwork, and Innovation & Leadership

Monique coordinated and managed a fantastic Marana Fall Festival this October. She led a planning team that included members from Public Works, Parks and Recreation, Police, Legal, Finance and others, and her respectful, clear and reliable direction helped all departments work together toward a common goal. She has taken feedback from departments from past events, and improved the planning process to address any past issues, and to find opportunities for new ideas. As a result, public feedback has been very positive.