Every quarter the city of Lakewood recognizes employees for outstanding work with its Guiding Principles awards. These awards call out individuals and teams for going above and beyond their daily duties.
Below is a list of Lakewood employees recognized at the city’s recent holiday all-staff recognition breakfast. At the event they were given an Award of Excellence from Mayor Jason Whalen and City Manager John Caulfield.
Individuals
Jon Anderson
Jon is a member of Lakewood Police Department’s Proactive Property Crimes/Robbery Unit and the team leader of the Special Response Team. He was recognized for his hard work, leadership, and dedication to his many responsibilities.
Sally Martinez
Sally is a recreation coordinator and focuses most of her time on city events. She is responsible for SummerFEST, the Farmers Market, street festivals, and much more. Sally was recognized for her ability to plan events, coordinate sponsors, and reach out to community leaders to make Lakewood events fun and inclusive.
Stacey Reding
Stacey is the parks department’s only employee assigned to manage parks capital projects. She was recognized for her ability to multi-task on many different projects, including recently closing a complicated property purchase that took two years to complete.
Scott Turner
Scott is a maintenance worker for parks, recreation, and community services. Scott was nominated for his amazing work ethic, persistence, and steadfastness in staying on top of an ever-increasing workload and commitment to serving the citizens of Lakewood.
Jennifer Posalski
Jennifer is a member of the Community Economic Development team. Jennifer was recognized for her assistance in the audio, visual, and technical tasks required to host an all-day Lodging Tax Advisory Committee meeting that included 18 presentations. Her expertise and dedication made the event a success.
Daisy Lomeli
Daisy is a Court Compliance Officer for the Lakewood Municipal Court. She is always ready to help and goes beyond the call of duty to provide court users with prompt and knowledgeable service. Daisy is the main point of contact for Veteran’s Treatment Court and is in charge of Lakewood’s jail alternative options. She was recognized for her outstanding work in her many responsibilities.
Teams
SSMCP:
Maria Tobin and Bill Adamson (not pictured)
Behind the scenes, two people do an incredible amount of work to sustain JBLM’s presence in Pierce County and the region. The SSMCP team was recognized for its long list of successful projects and overall outstanding work.
Automated Permit System Team:
Billie Stewart, Jennifer Posalski, Lehua Aalona, Ramon Rodriguez
Not pictured: Danielle Beavers, Courtney Brunell, Andrea Bell, Lauren Hines
This team worked for two years to upgrade the city’s online permit system. With the project finally complete, they were recognized for their hard work to manage current permit requests while implementing the new system.
PERS Conversion Verification of Earnings:
Cathi Short and Samantha Mahugh
Cathi and Samantha are part of the city’s Finance division. They spent over 100 hours transitioning the city’s current retirement system to the Public Employees Retirement System. They were recognized for their service, teamwork, integrity, and respect throughout the project.
Sout Tacoma Way Signal Response Team:
Eric Swanstrom, Kyle Tokita, Tom Cummins, Troy Pokswinksi, Jon Howe, Weston Ott
On Sept. 15, 2022, in the middle of the night, a contractor accidentally took down a traffic light at a key intersection on South Tacoma Way. This group worked tirelessly to get the light back up and running within 36 hours of the incident. They were recognized for their problem-solving skills and ability to find a quick, long-term solution.
Code Enforcement Team:
Sean Dunn, Cameron Himes, Bill Mathies
Bill, Sean, and Cameron are great assets to the Police Department and Community Support Response Team. The Code Enforcement team was recognized for their outstanding service to the community and teamwork.
Rental Housing Software Program Upgrade: Heather Holverstott and Sam Maloney
Heather and Sam worked with a private contractor to upgrade the city’s rental housing registration program. This project proved to be long and difficult, but these two persevered to greatly improve services for clients and boost efficiency within the city.