Recognition was the day’s theme as the City of Moose Jaw honoured dozens of employees with service awards and thanked several retiring this year.
The municipality held a luncheon on Dec. 7 at the Events Centre to recognize 26 people — with over 400 years of combined employment — with awards, including 20 employees for years of service, five for retirement and one for a special achievement award.
15 years
Staff whom the city recognized for their 15 years included Julie Fitzpatrick and Ryan Nelson with the information technology department; Lisa Eritz with parks and recreation; James Smith and Dayle Wilcox with the fire department (absent from the luncheon); Ryan Milne with public works and utilities (absent); and Terry Overs and Stevo Suzic (absent) with transit.
20 years
Staff the city recognized for their 20 years included Rod Ansell, Dustin Duzan, Craig Flanagan, Sterling Macdiarmid and Jeremy Sanderson with the fire department (all absent); Maxine Patterson with parks and recreation; and Jason Trzaskowski with public works and utilities (absent).
25 years
Staff whom the city recognized for their 25 years of service included Cathie Bassett and Kayne Hemsing with the fire department and Les Keays with public works and utilities.
30 years
Staff the city recognized for their 30 years included Kevin Englesman with parks and recreation (absent).
40 years
Staff whom the city recognized for their 40 years of service included Caroline Dreger in the mayor’s office. Dreger has served six mayors and four city managers since joining that department in 2001. She started working at city hall in 1982 in the social services office on the fourth floor.
Retirements
Staff the city recognized because they are retiring included Brenda Hanson in engineering after 10 years; Hemsing with the fire department after 25 years; Miles Henrikson and Val St. Dennis with parks and recreation (both absent); and Suzi Watson with public works and utilities (absent).
Special achievement award
The city recognized Eritz with the special achievement award.
This award honours an employee who has contributed to the City of Moose Jaw or the community. The employee is to have provided exemplary service and dedication to the municipality or have extensive community involvement as a volunteer.
Eritz joined the parks and rec department in the fall of 2021 after coming over from the planning and development department, city hall explained. She played a crucial role in helping deliver a record number of capital projects this past summer. She also took ownership of the successful delivery of the projects.
Some projects she shepherded included upgrades to the Moose Square playground, new pickleball courts, resurfacing of Crescent Park tennis courts, pathway upgrades in Crescent Park, installation of solar panels on three municipal buildings, new stand for the historic town bell, LED lights upgrades at Yara Centre, mechanical upgrades at the city complex, new air conditioning at city hall, a new boiler at Golden Ticket Sports Centre, roof replacements on several recreation arenas and venues, and others projects.
“No matter what the challenges in front of her, she always takes it on with a positive attitude (and) a smile on her face,” said parks director Derek Blais. “She’s an exceptional asset to the city and deserves to be recognized for this.”
