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Gatlinburg
Public Works employee receives Murphy Snoderly Award! |
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Recognized for his
dedication to his department, community and its citizens, Paul Ramsey
with the Gatlinburg Public Works Department has been awarded the Murphy
Snoderly Award by the Tennessee Chapter of the American public works
Association (TCAPWA). He was presented the award at TML's Annual
Conference recently held in Gatlinburg. |
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Ramsey was praised for his outstanding performance during his 30 plus years of
service in the Utilities Maintenance Department of the Public Works Department
with the city of Gatlinburg.
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"Paul is the unofficial leader in body and spirit of our maintenance
team," said Ron Greene, Gatlinburg assistant city manager and public works
director. "His willingness to tackle any set of circumstances under
virtually any conditions is respected and appreciated by his peers, no matter
the degree of difficulty. He excels in the most adverse job conditions and
is always of the mindset to fix the problem as quickly as possible."
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Greene, along with Cindy Ogle, Gatlinburg City Manager, and Dale Phelps,
Gatlinburg utilities manager, nominated Ramsey for the award.
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As a
utilities services worker, Ramsey's primary responsibilities include maintenance
of water and sewer systems including making taps for new customers or commercial
projects and making repairs when breaks occur. Pipefitting, excavation,
valve installation and line cleaning are among his duties.
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He's
also the "McGuyver" of the Utilities Maintenance Department, whether
it means crating a tool or coming up with a creative way to fix a problem.
His willingness to work with other public works departments in the city is well
known and respected.
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Ramsey
has been the recipient of the city's Employee of the Year award for designing a
tool to clean sewer lines, a form of which is still being used today. He
has also been a member of the team in multiple "Units of the Quarter"
nominations which have been honored throughout the years. He has
participated in a number of significant building and maintenance projects
involving multiple departments, using his ingenuity to design and implement
efficient and often cost-cutting measures to solve tasks.
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He has
also been a willing hero, once pulling an injured driver from a car submerged in
a creek and another time assisting in a search for a missing driver of a
four-wheeler. During a year-long period when his crew leader served a tour
in in Iraq, Paul took up the slack as far as leadership and planning to the best
of his ability.
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"Paul exemplifies everything that the Murphy Snoderly Award
represents," said Calvin Clifton, president of the TN Chapter American
Public Works Association. "He is willing to put in an honest day's
work and is an exemplary employee who performs his duties with a spirit of
dedication, hard work and great service to the community."
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The
award is named for the late Murphy Snoderly, a longtime engineering and public
works consultant for the University of Tennessee's Municipal Technical Advisory
Service. TCAPWA established the award in 1972 as a means of sharing his
appreciation for the dedicated efforts given by the many long time public works
employees. The recipient is selected from a slate of statewide candidates
and is considered the state's most outstanding non-administrative public works
employee. This year 12 individuals from seven different cities were
nominated for the award.
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Currently there are more than 200 public works and related departments across
the state that employee an estimated 5,000+ workers. TCAPWA has more than
400 members from cities and counties across the state. A major goal of
TCAPWA is to promote the public works profession and aide in helping every
public works department across the sate by providing a network through which its
members can contact other members to discuss and strategize how to manage
various public works issues, concerns and projects.
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Since
its establishment in 1954, the state chapter has provided various educational
opportunities as a means of allowing public works leaders and employees to stay
aware of methods and technologies that can be used to ensure effectiveness and
efficiency in public works operations.
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