Chestermere Publics Works had one of their own recognized at City Council Dec. 4 after winning the Alberta Public Works Association (APWA) inaugural Manager of the Year – Administrative.
“I feel pretty privileged,” said award winner Vicky Fox, the City of Chestermere Public Works Office Coordinator.
“It feels great to be acknowledged with the work that we do,” she said.
Fox found out she had won the award in October but after hurting her knee she was unable to attended the APWA conference in Red Deer to receive her award.
Since she couldn’t go to them, Jeannette Austin, Executive Director with the APWA came to her, presenting her with the award in council chambers at the Dec. 4 meeting.
Fox said that when she found out she had won she was shocked.
“I didn’t even know there was such an award,” she said, “and now I know why I didn’t know because it’s the first.”
Fox’s Boss, Steve Schwartz, Chestermere’s Assistant Director of Development Infrastructure Services is proud of her win and thinks she deserves to be the first ever recipient of this award.
“Vicky brings a lot to public works,” he said.
“She’s really helped a lot of us excel at our jobs,” said Schwartz.
The Manager of the Year – Administrative and other awards run by the APWA are meant to bring attention to the good work being done by the municipal public works departments across Alberta.
Austin said that public works are often forgotten about in day to day life.
“They’re definitely the unsung heroes in our communities,” she said.
In her experience, Austin said that when public works are recognized, field employee’s get all the recognition while the support staff are often overlooked.
“Quite honestly, they are the glue that keeps the department together,” said Austin.
“Without that heart, that core, we’re nothing,” she said.
With the creation of this award for their 2017 awards program, the APWA is working to rectify this.
“It’s pretty nice that they are going to recognize people within public works within the administration portion of it,” said Fox.
They are also trying to promote public works as a profession to the general public.
“The only way to do that is to bring about that credibility, both for the administrative staff and those in the field,” she said.
