Online Staff Report

The Rockford Park District announced that Project and Governance Manager Karen Weis was selected as the Rockford Park District 2012 Employee of the Year.

Marty Bloom, Joe Domino-Musselman, John Sundstrom, Pete Montana, Kyle Koelker, Troy Mattila, Pat Krueger and Luke Shearrow (Support Services staff) were selected as 2012 Team of the Year by staff members through an online voting system.

Throughout the year, 22 employees and eight teams were nominated by team members and selected by a staff recognition committee as Employee of the Quarter and Team of the Quarter, making them eligible to be selected as Employee of the Year and Team of the Year.

The nominations for each quarter included recognition for Outstanding Performance, Creative Contributions, Notable Service to Community/Citizens, Notable Service to Staff, Dollars for Ideas and Safety First.

Factors used to determine quarterly award recipients included special contributions to the Park District as a whole, successful completion of special projects, ideas for improved work methods, outstanding dedication to the Park District, ideas that generated revenue or saved money for the district, attention to safety details, and/or outstanding customer service.

2012 Employee of the Year

Karen Weis received the recognition because of her involvement in helping the Rockford Park District receive the National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation from the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA).

Weis worked diligently researching other award-winning agencies, taking an in-depth inventory of the Rockford Park District, and spending hours writing and editing the content for the application to portray why the Rockford Park District deserved such an honor.

May 2, 2012, the Rockford Park District was notified that all the hard work had paid off — the Park District was one of four finalists for the 2012 award, and that the final winner would be announced in October. As a result of Weis’ initial steps, the Rockford Park District won the National Gold Medal Award, a major accomplishment for the entire community, and one that hadn’t been achieved by the Rockford Park District since 1989.

2012 Team of the Year

Marty Bloom, Joe Domino-Musselman, John Sundstrom, Pete Montana, Kyle Koelker, Troy Mattila, Pat Krueger and Luke Shearrow were selected as the 2012 Team of the Year because of this team’s willingness to move all of the donated weights and workout equipment within Windsor Athletic Club to the Rockford Park District and various schools in the Rockford School District in a three-day time span.

Most of the equipment had to be disassembled into small pieces to fit through the main doors, and everything had to be carried by hand, then reassembled. It was an enormous task, bigger than anyone had anticipated, but this team met their deadline and did it with great enthusiasm, as they do with every task.

The other employees of the four quarters who were eligible to be named Employee of the Year included Laurie Anderson, Nikki Kirn, Shawn Rice, Nikki Lynch, Tracy White, Peggy Hacker, Jan Davis, Scott Ross, Margaret DeMoss, Lisa Hodges, Mark Smith, Amy McIntyre, Suzanne Howard, Doug Harkness, Tonya Reuber, Kuenzi Dearth, Debbie Ackerman, Lisa Alexander, Sean Gray, Zack McIntyre and Cindy Rathke.

The other quarterly team winners that were eligible to be named Team of the Year included Nathan McDonald and Ben Wiegel, Goose Management Volunteer Team, The Wellness Committee, Gold Medal Team, Street Hogs Arena Team, Carlson Ice Arena Ice Re-Build Team, and “The Diamond Guys,” which included Dan Erwin, Pete Montana, Curtis Jefferson, Vern Simpson and Richard Ellena.

Posted Feb. 13, 2013