Daly City Parks and Recreation Department

Bien Ignacio: Bien has been a part-time employee with our department for the past 8 years. He worked up the ladder of "part-time employment" from working in the Afterschool and Summer Youth Recreation Program for many seasons and jumping into the experience of assisting with the overseeing of the Summer Youth Recreation Program the past three years. Bien is truly an example of what it is to be a true T.E.A.M. player. On his part-time position as an Afterschool Recreation Program Site Leader he has displayed true leadership and dedication to the department. He effectively oversees a site that serves between 80 and 100 youth daily.

His responsibilities as a part-time employee increase enormously from school year into the summer. Bien has taken on the task of being the Assistant Summer Coordinator for the past three years and has run with it. He has been responsible for overseeing anywhere from 13-15 summer recreation site. He has successfully coordinated many summer special events, including a FREE Summer Skate Party.

Bien is truly an asset to the youth of our community and to our department. The quality of his work is seamless from season to season; the passion he has for the job is shown while completing the most trivial of tasks as well as to the supervision of staff and youth. He has truly risen to the occasion and handled the transition of "being supervised" to "supervising".

Jim Kohler: Jim Kohler has been the Junior Giants specialist for the past four (4) summers and is an outstanding team player for our department. His knowledge of his duties and responsibilities are, without a doubt, a valuable asset to the Summer Youth Recreation Program (SYRP). Jim handles himself as though he was a coordinator rather than a specialist. His communication between the Junior Giants Organization and the program kept all involved up to date with the Junior Giants Program. His outstanding work captured the attention of the local press and, along with one of the SYRP sites, made headlines in the local paper.

This year, Jim developed a fresh new approach to the Annual Junior Giants Tournament by making it an All-Star Tournament, where every participant was an All-Star. Each team in the tournament was composed of two (2) or more kids from different sites, coached by our site leaders. To the surprise of many, this year’s tournament became a more positive experience. The competitive nature of coaches was put in check, as they no longer prepared to represent their individual site as the supreme team, but rather represent their teams as the best show of effort and teamwork along with sportsmanship. Though every child was equal to all others who participated, the tournament was still to maintain a controlled flow of competitiveness that included everyone. Truly, Jim has exemplified himself as a professional who does his work while having fun at the same time.

We greatly appreciate his hard work and dedication to our department!

City of Mountain View

Paul Runkel: Paul Runkel has been working for the City of Mountain View, Recreation Division since 1996 fulfilling a wide variety of job responsibilities. Paul consistently goes above and beyond his job duties as a building attendant, scorekeeper and preparing ball fields for adult sports. He has proven himself to be a valuable and dedicated employee by being flexible and willing to take on challenges as they arise. His knowledge of facilities and programs has benefited the community as well as the Recreation Division. Program participants and user groups depend on Paul to provide a quality experience while utilizing City facilities and programs. His professionalism, reliability and work ethic is appreciated Citywide.

City of Redwood City

Kristen Anderson: The Redwood City Park, Recreation and Community Services Department wishes to nominate Child care Coordinator, Kristen Anderson, for CPRS District IV Professional Merit.

Kristen serves as the City Liaison with the Redwood City child-care community (both Center and home based providers) as well as with other City Departments such as Community Development. This knowledge and community wide focus has allowed Redwood City to make significant progress in meeting its childcare needs. Some specific examples of her putting both the knowledge and community wide focus include:

• Her identifying State fund and working with the Sequoia High School District on the application such that a center for the School Aged Mothers Program now exists on the Redwood High School campus.
• Working with community groups on creating and implementing criteria for selection of providers, which is used by both the City and School District for allocation of their childcare spaces.
• Encouraging the City to work with a private developer to use City land for the creation of 150 childcare spaces in the Redwood Shores neighborhood.
• Her annual preschool preview night, which allows parents to talk face to face with potential preschool and childcare providers in the community all in one evening.
• Her work with the City Council to adopt a Child Care Strategy for the City and maintain a high profile for the need for this service in the community.

The Department and entire City have and will continue to benefit because of her efforts.

Denise Monroe: The Redwood City Park, Recreation and Community Services Department wishes to nominate it’s Administrative Assistant, Denise Monroe, for CPRS District IV Professional Merit Award for the key role she plays in the overall operation of the department and specifically for her service as the Secretary for the Department’s three City Council appointed advisory bodies.

Denise has served the Department for over twelve years by making sure that we are always in line with standard City operating procedures, continuously improving our administrative processes and providing great internal and external customer service. Since Park and Recreation Departments are not known for their love of bureaucracy, this is not always an easy task, but Denise manages to keep everyone in line with a smile. Whether it comes to making sure that all the paperwork is accurate for the 100 summer hires, or the Employee Appreciation Committee, Denise is always professional and a pleasure to be around.

Nowhere do these skills shine brighter than in Denise’s handling of the Department’s three citizen advisory boards. Each has seven members appointed by Council and as such their minutes and agendas are subject to the same rules as the City Council. As Secretary for the Civic Cultural Commission, the Park and Recreation Commission and the Senior Affairs Commission, Denise has never failed to meet deadlines for posting and mailing. More importantly, Denise has served as the daily Department contact for the 21 Commission members. I know that each of them appreciate the fact that they have one person to call with any questions and concerns they may have. The rest of the staff appreciates the fact that the information that Denise provides is always timely, accurate, and sensitive to the political issues of the day.

Lastly, Denise is the real reason that many of the Council appointed Commissions get any tasks accomplished. In her work with these advisory groups, she has organized Art Gallery receptions, Elementary School Art Contests, and supported dozens of special sub committees. Best of all she has done it with a smile. We are very grateful that she chooses to work for our Department.

City of San Carlos

Hannah Linebarger: Hannah Linebarger is recognized by her peers and the community for her dedication, commitment, and devotion to the profession and to the San Carlos community.

Hannah has been creating community for the City of San Carlos for over 27 years. She is the founder of our successful and valued Special Needs Program which offers recreation and socialization activities for children, teens, and adults who have physical, social, or learning limitations. Hannah developed this program and provided leadership and direction for 19 years. In 1995, she accepted a new position taking on the supervision of San Carlos Kiwanis Community Center facility operations while continuing to provide direction and supervision of the Special Needs Program. In fall of 2001, under a department wide re-organization plan, Hannah took on another new assignment, as the Recreation Supervisor for Senior Services and Special Needs.

Hannah’s love for others, integrity, and resilience have followed her and have positively impacted others as she has worked in various divisions of the San Carlos Park and Recreation Department and served on Special Event Committees.

After 27 years of serving the San Carlos community, Hannah will be retiring. Hannah has contributed significantly to the Parks & Recreation profession and to the City of San Carlos’ community service. She will be missed, but her legacy will continue.

Jean Saint Martin: The City of San Carlos would like to nominate Jean Saint Martin, Maintenance Worker in the General Services Division for his efforts in developing a pesticide free, native species pilot site at Vista Park. Jean has been instrumental in the design and installation of a highly efficient irrigation system. Jean did extensive research of the plant material to be used on this sight. Jean designed the layout of the plant material and led a team in the installation.

Jean continues to maintain this site utilizing Integrated Pest Management approach. Jean is willing to share his knowledge of IPM that the site visitors can implement in their own yard. Jean’s commitment to this demonstration site is evident in his participation in developing volunteer job descriptions, and recruiting volunteers to work at this site.

City of San Mateo

Austin Watts: It’s hard to believe that in the past year, Austin Watts could be any more awesome than any other time in his 6 years with the Recreation Department but he actually did out do himself this year.

Austin is the Lead Teacher for the Beresford Kids Club, a licensed after school day care program for elementary school aged children and a Kids Club Site Director (a full day playground program) during the summer. He has proven himself to be a creative programmer, energized leader, sensitive teacher and outstanding ambassador in his nearly 4 years in that role.

This year in the Day Care Program, Austin was presented with several different challenges involving the facility as well as a few challenging children, but with his usual flair and finesse, he was able to find solutions.

Due to the loss of the children’s playground area adjacent to the Beresford Recreation Center building, the BKC kids no longer had there own playground right outside the room. Instead of free play outside, it wasn’t uncommon to find an obstacle course or a tent city being built out of parachutes and other items found around the center. It has always been Austin’s pleasure to give his charges many one of-a-kind activities. His innovative programming skills have provided the children with unique activities that are not only fun but also challenging and exciting. He also made an effort to walk to the larger public Beresford Park a few times a week. Walking 42 children to the park is no easy feat but Austin realized how important it was for the children to have that outdoor playing time.

This year, Austin’s gentle nature was really tested with the addition of a new kindergartner who had to leave his previous day care due to difficulties. Austin was able to observe when the child was about to have a problem and divert him away to a more positive situation. Even though this challenge required Austin to pay more attention to one child when the 41 others are all asking for attention, Austin was able to create a harmonious environment for all.

Another challenge, was an older child in the program. Due to her special needs, she was kept back in the fifth grade and placed back in our program though older than all of the other children. Austin worked with his staff in creating encouraging surroundings for her. Family problems and trouble at school added to the situation but Austin never gave up. Finally in May, the mother found another program more suitable for her child. Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication between the mother and child, and for an afternoon the mother did not know where her child was. Austin was instrumental in assisting the parent in contacting the police as well as her child’s school trying to locate the child. Austin was there to comfort the mother as she worried and stressed about her missing child. It turned out that the child was at her new day care and all was well.

With a change of personnel in the Youth Services Division, Austin stepped in to assist with the planning and organizing of the Summer Playcamps. Being down a Senior Supervisor as well as one Supervisor out on medical leave, he played a significant roll on the Youth Services Summer Planning Team. He helped format the training schedule, handled the organization and the distribution of cell phones, presenting training sessions on discipline, and arts and crafts, and conducted the Site Director break out sessions. His enthusiasm and passion for the programs and especially the children, continues to be an inspiration for the new leaders as well as the experienced ones. It’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement when Austin is around!

2002 was a challenging year of many changes, but through it all, Austin Watts continued to be a positive influence and a true role model to the total Recreation Profession.

City of Sunnyvale

John Lawrence: The City of Sunnyvale would like to recognize John Lawrence for his tremendous contributions to the City of Sunnyvale’s Recreation Division and specifically for his vision and tenacity related to the creation of a new organizational staffing structure. Major staffing changes are never easy, but in the early 1990’s the City of Sunnyvale transitioned from a more traditional Recreation Division supported by the General Fund, to an Enterprise Fund targeting self-sufficiency, or zero reliance on tax dollars, within ten years. That ambitious plan literally transformed many of the Division’s service delivery philosophies and caused a great deal of energy to be directed toward specific strategies to not only increase program revenues but to decrease costs wherever possible. While it would be impossible in the time or space allowed here to do justice to the pros and cons of Sunnyvale’s Community Recreation Fund, suffice to say that it went beyond the realm of reason during its first decade in terms of staff reductions and the use of temporary staff to perform tasks that were anything but temporary. It’s been a long, tough road, but John and Nancy as Division Heads have led the charge back to a point where we can begin the second evolution of the Community Recreation Fund under more reasonable staffing conditions. This includes the reinstatement of several key management positions and the transition of numerous temporary positions to either regular full-time or regular part-time status within the Recreation Division. No easy trick given the current economic climate!

Nancy Bolgard Steward: The City of Sunnyvale would like to recognize Nancy Bolgard Steward for her tremendous contributions to the City of Sunnyvale’s Recreation Division and specifically for her vision and tenacity related to the creation of a new organizational staffing structure. Major staffing changes are never easy, but in the early 1990’s the City of Sunnyvale transitioned from a more traditional Recreation Division supported by the General Fund, to an Enterprise Fund targeting self-sufficiency, or zero reliance on tax dollars, within ten years. That ambitious plan literally transformed many of the Division’s service delivery philosophies and caused a great deal of energy to be directed toward specific strategies to not only increase program revenues but to decrease costs wherever possible. While it would be impossible in the time or space allowed here to do justice to the pros and cons of Sunnyvale’s Community Recreation Fund, suffice to say that it went beyond the realm of reason during its first decade in terms of staff reductions and the use of temporary staff to perform tasks that were anything but temporary. It’s been a long, tough road, but John and Nancy as Division Heads have led the charge back to a point where we can begin the second evolution of the Community Recreation Fund under more reasonable staffing conditions. This includes the reinstatement of several key management positions and the transition of numerous temporary positions to either regular full-time or regular part-time status within the Recreation Division. No easy trick given the current economic climate!

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