Marathon County 43rd Annual Retirement & Recognition Banquet Friday April 12, 2019 The Program Co-Masters of Ceremonies .............................. Brad Karger, Lance Leonhard, Kurt Gibbs, Frank Matel Introduction ............................................................................................ Brad Karger Pledge of Allegiance .............................................................................. Everyone Invocation ................................................................................................. Brad Karger Buffet Dinner: Chicken Florentine: Chicken Breast topped with spinach in a white wine cream sauce; Grilled Flank Steak with a cognac cream sauce; Yukon Gold Mash Potatoes, Green Bean Almandine, and Carrots Plated Side Salad, Dinner rolls and butter Assorted Dessert Bars Dinner Music and County Song (pg. 2) ................................................... Andy Zynda THANK YOU Andy for sharing your music with all of us tonight!!!!! Presentations to Honored Guests .................... Brad Karger, Lance Leonhard, Kurt Gibbs, Frank Matel Core Value Award Winners Retirees Years of Service: 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, & 20 Former County Board Supervisors Drawing of Door Prizes…. .......................................................... Kurt Gibbs Introduction of Entertainment ..................................................... Kurt Gibbs - 1 - Honored Guests - 2 - Marathon County Song (To the Tune of “Bad Moon Rising”) Written By Andy Zynda Welcome to Marathon County Forests and parks so big and green Dairy farms and land that's full of bounty Fish and hunt our forests, lakes and streams (Chorus) Marathon County life, together we can make it right Marathon County is alright (Verse 2) Working together moving forward Helping the people and the land Industry and business flowing over Everyone all does the best they can (Chorus 2 x) Marathon County life, together we can make it right Marathon County is alright Marathon County life, together we can make it right Marathon County is alright - 3 - Core Values SERVICE is responsively delivering on our commitments to all of our internal and external customers. INTEGRITY is honesty, openness, and demonstrating mutual respect and trust in others. QUALITY is providing public services that are reflective of “best practices” in the field. DIVERSITY is actively welcoming and valuing people with different perspectives and experiences. SHARED PURPOSE is functioning as a team to attain our organizational goals and working collaboratively with our policy makers, departments, employees, and customers. STEWARDSHIP OF OUR RESOURCES is conserving the human, natural, cultural, and financial resources for current and future generations. - 4 - June 2018 Core Value Award Nominees Service: Jennifer Kreft, Andrew Schmidt, Josh Pawlowski Integrity: Julie Jensen Quality: Jean Kopplin Diversity: Cheng Yang Shared Purpose: Gary Hetzer, Kyle Mayo, Kitty Roesler Stewardship of Our Resources: David Hagenbucher, Ron Smith, and Ryan Schilling June 2018 Rookie of the Year Nominee Kelly Rottler June 2018 Team of the Year Nominee Clerk of Courts Action Planning Team Metallic Mining Team - 5 - December 2018 Core Value Award Nominees December 2018 Core Value Nominees Service: Dan Richter Integrity: Lane Loveland Quality: Julie Groshek and Jessica Kubichek Diversity: Samantha Pinzl Shared Purpose: Ben Krombholtz, Matt Nimz Stewardship of Our Resources: Abigail Sauter December 2018 Rookie of the Year Nominees Jamie Polley and Boly Vang December 2018 Team of the Year Nominee Judy O’Keefe and Nelson Pasha Social Services - 6 - June 2018 Core Value Award Winners SERVICE: Josh Pawlowski and Andrew Schmidt of the Highway Department On April 30, 2018 Josh and Andy members of the Marathon County Highway Department assisted at the scene of a large grass fire on Hwy 29 southbound near CTH-J. They did an exceptional job of assisting the SAFER Fire Department and the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office. While at the scene Josh and Andy used their own equipment and equipment from the Fire Department to aid in extinguishing the fire that had spread from a median to a north ditch and field. After the fire truck on scene ran out of water, they continued to use their shovels to tamp out additional fires to prevent the strong winds from pushing additional embers to the north ditch. Then they provided assistance in removing the hose from the roadway to open up the highway therefore reducing the amount of time Hwy 29 was closed down. After the fire was extinguished, Josh and Andy helped the fire crew roll up hoses and remove additional equipment to aid in completely opening up the highway. Josh and Andy were phenomenal on this day. Not only did they step up to aid in extinguishing the fire, they went above and beyond in helping the fire crew ready their equipment to clear the scene to allow us to open the highway up faster, avoiding potential risk to motorists. - 7 - QUALITY: Jean Kopplin of City-County IT Jean is the Project Manager for the Law Enforcement Implementation project which has been ongoing for the past 14 months and will go live in late October. She keeps the team motivated, on task, updated, and helps them be good change agents. Jean starts by being very efficient and responsive. She plans her projects down to the minor details to make sure there aren’t any areas left for change. Jean continues to be proactive to reduce the changes of future problems. Jean is an excellent communicator and is always looking for ways to improve communication. Jean is never afraid to ask for help and enjoys helping others embrace learning and change. Jean is a go-to person and sets a great example that change isn’t always easy, but if you keep a positive attitude you will persevere and accomplish your goals. INTEGRITY: Julie Jensen of Social Services Julie displays a commitment to our Social Services customers through her everyday interactions both within and outside the agency. Julie is a friendly and genuine person who shows a sincere interest in all she interacts with and looks to connect with them on a personal level. Julie regularly helps facilitate and recruit members of the community committees that provide support to child welfare. She has built strong and respectful relationships with professional community members and brings humor into these relationships. In addition, she spends time with them to show how important they are to the shared work of the Department. Julie routinely volunteers at events providing information to families to keep kids safe. Julie is a terrific example of what integrity looks like, and represents Marathon County in an exemplary fashion. - 8 - DIVERSITY: Cheng Yang of the Sheriff’s Office When Cheng is working the security screening station, he consistently welcomes and treats all who enter the Courthouse with respect and dignity. One noteworthy behavior I observed was a day when the elevator by the Treasurer's office was out of service. An employee who was unable to use the stairs was upset believing that the other elevator by the Jail would not allow this person to go up to the second floor with her key card until 8:15 a.m., - after her start time. When Cheng was notified of this concern, he stated it should work, but upon seeing the distress the employee was in he immediately made the decision to escort the employee to the second floor via the jail elevator, thus diffusing the situation and getting the employee to work on time. I was proud of the way he handled this situation. SHARED PURPOSE: Kitty Roesler of the Library Kitty has been a library employee for approximately 25 years and has always provided quality and service. She has unselfishly helped out with staffing at branches and took over the lead responsibilities of the Cooperative Circulation Committee for Wisconsin Valley Library System. She has also brought up the purging of old library records (ongoing) and is actively working on a training program for customer service in order to demonstrate the values of quality and service. Thanks to the Leadership Development Program, Kitty’s development into a leader have exceeded our expectations over the last few months. She took the lead on the Souper Supper Project, which the county took on behalf of the United Way. “Functioning as a team to attain our organizational goals and working collaboratively with our policy makers, departments, employees, and customers,” is what we are told shared purpose is. Kitty is helping to build a strong culture at the library by embodying the Core Value of Shared Purpose. - 9 - STEWARDSHIP OF RESOURCES: Ron Smith and David Hagenbucher of Solid Waste Sometime between October and April, an unknown vehicle went into the ditch along Hwy 29 near the Solid Waste Department. In that slide into what the driver must have thought was snow and small trees, the car pushed over the standpipes for two groundwater wells that are part of our 94 GW monitoring system. When we realized what happened, we had a well-drilling firm evaluate the situation. They said the wells were damaged beyond repair and needed to be re-drilled; new wells and permitting would be a $20,000-$25,000 bill. Ron and Dave weren't convinced and set out to prove the well-drilling company wrong. They spent a bit of time evaluating the situation, gathered up a variety of tools and devices and went to work. After vacuuming out the accumulated sediment, they were able to retrieve the bailers and found the wells in good working order. No need for new wells; no need to spend a large amount of money. Working together, and with a good plan and determination, they saved the wells and saved the department a large chunk of cash. BIANNUAL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Kelly Rottler of City- County IT Kelly was hired as a programmer/analyst in January of 2018 to develop software and back up our web developer. Before the end of the second month on the job, she was called upon to maintain the county website while our current webmaster was on an unexpected leave. During that time, she updated the Land Records website to display the new Marathon County addresses and made several other necessary changes.