Employees and Department of the Quarter – The Village is very fortunate to have such quality employees working for this community. They are the foundation to the success of our organization and play a key role in delivering exceptional services to our citizens. Listed below are the employees nominated and selected for outstanding service to the Village this quarter.
Elaine Reynolds – Administrative – Finance, Human Resources, Clerks, Utility Billing, Purchasing, Court, Executive, IT, and all Clerical staff from all Departments – Elaine came to work for the Village on September 17, 2001 and is currently the Office Manager for the Ruidoso Fire Department. Elaine always has a smile for everyone in any situation. She is always looking out for the Fire Department and is helpful and willing to do anything the department needs.
Josh Long – Public Works – Streets, Water, Wastewater Collections, Wastewater Treatment Plant and Solid Waste – Josh was hired to work for the Village on November 3, 2008, where he started as a maintenance worker. Josh was promoted to a Truck Driver/Heavy Equipment Operator and then to Street Foreman. Recently Josh was promoted to a supervisor position in the Street Department and is the Safety Representative for the Department. He does an excellent job interacting with the public and informing them of projects that will impact their property.
Rex Hardin – Public Works – Streets, Water, Wastewater Collections, Wastewater Treatment Plant ,and Solid Waste – Rex was hired in the Solid Waste Department on February 13, 2016 and immediately received praise from residents and businesses on his route. He is instrumental in working with Village Code Enforcement and co-workers in keeping trash to a minimum. He also volunteers to work holidays and weekends to help keep the Village clean. Within his first year of employment, Rex obtained a Transfer Station Operator permit from NMED and has been promoted to Solid Waste Heavy Mechanic. He has also self-trained to operate computer diagnostics for the repair of light and heavy equipment and has received a CDL Class “A” permit. He is always at work ahead of time, willing to stay late and willing to do any job assigned.
Dispatchers – Katy Simpson, Kelly Bullion, Kate Eisenberg, Victoria Hernandez-Acker, Debra Neal, Ty Marshall, Aaron Quintana and Miriam Alvillar-Garcia – Public Safety – Police, Fire, Emergency Management – These Dispatchers go so far above and beyond promoting the Village in all situations including snow storms, fires, tourist traffic, etc. These individuals answer the phone 24 hours 7 days a week and provide information representing the Village to a large volume of callers. When they are overloaded with information or callers, they always manage to be professional and provide information. They are the foundation that support the public safety professionals in this community.
Eric Annala – Community Services – Parks & Recreation, Senior Center, Airport, Convention Center, Planning & Zoning(including Building Inspectors), Forestry and Library – Eric began his career in the Forestry Department on February 6, 2006 and has earned the reputation of being an ambassador for the Forestry Department as he spends a lot of time educating landowners about the need for managing vegetation for fuels management for forest health. He is called the “schmoozer” by the staff because of his people skills and ability to mitigate adversarial situations with landowners. He works extremely well with the solid waste employees to ensure that waste from projects is quickly disposed of and the the project is completed in a professional manner. Eric is a great employee deserving of this recognition.
Department of the Quarter – Water Distribution/Sewer Collection – This crew is out in the Village at all hours of the day, nights and weekends. They are great at the repairs that they are called out to do in all types of weather. Rain, shine, snow, heat of the day, weekends, holidays and in the middle of the night when the Village is asleep, this department is out making sure water and sewer is flowing for the Village residents. This entire department is always just a phone call away. They assist the Fire Department in all structure fires and “all calls” to assure that the Village hydrants are being used efficiently and they are in good working order. They have stayed after fires to help haul thousands of feet of hose back to the station for cleaning and have also gotten the water tender to the calls. They are a great department.