Gaston County honors its Employees of the Year
Gaston County recently recognized its Employees of the Year who have demonstrated outstanding performance in their jobs.
Employees of the year are chosen by an Employee Recognition Committee that reviews nominations from county workers, and are chosen based on the categories below.
Employees of the Year
Adam Gaub is Gaston County’s communications director, and started his job in the beginning of 2020. By March, he was propelled into a chaotic COVID world with constant press releases, press conferences, marketing, and more.
Gaub proved himself in his work related to public health. His greatest achievement was his work with vaccinations. Almost overnight, Gaub lead in getting a website up for vaccination appointments, repurposed his office to assist the effort, brought people together from different areas and even from the state to assist with the phone bank, and worked well into the night helping residents get the information or appointments they needed.
Chelse Harris is a branch library assistant in Mount Holly. In 2020, during the pandemic, Harris used technology to engage teens, including transitioning traditional programming to digital platforms, did virtual outreach to Mount Holly Middle School Exceptional Children’s classrooms, and created engaging craft videos, virtual teen book talks, and special effects makeup for beginners, to name a few.
Harris also partnered with Lowe’s Home Improvement and the city of Mount Holly to create a Story Walk at Tuckaseege Park. It was so successful she’s been asked to bring Story Walk back twice already. In 2021, Harris was promoted to manager of the Dallas Branch Library.
Erin Hines is the environmental educator for the Natural Resources Department. In 2020, she helped parents and teachers find online educational resources, and hands-on activities.
Hines developed a YouTube series of fun and engaging educational videos called Gaston Natural Classroom. She also developed a series of virtual field trips designed to guide small, socially-distanced classes in outdoor activities in their schoolyard.
Hines also was a key contributor to the Southern Piedmont Envirothon, a natural resource education program and competition designed to challenge students. Davidson County’s Director of Soil & Water Conservation said, “Erin was the leader in developing new processes to make the Envirothon possible for students in Area 8. Her work was essential in making the Southern Piedmont Envirothon a reality for this year.”
Sgt. Matt Johnson works with the Gaston County Police. Johnson showed his initiative in 2020 leading several changes and projects, including creating a standard narrative form for police officers and implemented its use. He created guidelines for some of the most difficult calls to handle like domestic calls and involuntary mental commitments, and identified problem areas and initiating projects such as Operation Undivided Attention and Operation Yard Sale.
“Sgt. Johnson constantly goes above and beyond what is expected of him. He helps others learn and become better at their jobs. He strives every day to make himself better. He helps make Gaston County Police a better department so that the department can better serve the citizens of Gaston County,” according to his nomination.
Julie Lane is an accounting technician at the landfill. 2020 was an interesting year for the landfill. Volume continued to rise as the pandemic brought more tonnage. At the same time, several employees needed to be out for extended periods.
While still doing her accounting duties, Lane worked the scales non-stop for over two months. She stayed late and came in on Sundays to make sure the accounting was done. She also spent considerable time helping administrators and co-workers plan for the addition of new scale house staff.
Mike Lee is the facilities maintenance division administrator for Public Works.
In his role, Mike is responsible for taking care of many things day and night. Throughout the pandemic, Lee and his staff worked to make sure buildings stayed operational and in good condition.
Lee led several projects including the renovations of several departments in the Administration Building, the Jail Infill project, which created additional bed space for inmates, and the transition of the Animal Care facility, and more.
Bobby Maxwell is an animal care and enforcement specialist with the Gaston County Police.
Maxwell handled some emotionally charged cases in 2020.
One of those cases saw Maxwell receive intense scrutiny from some members of the community. He sought case reviews from three separate veterinarians and interviewed the parties involved to ensure the process was done professionally, ethically, and fairly.
He stood by the evidence he knew was right, and not only weathered the pressure from those in disagreement, but also helped the pet owner work through the issues caused by the publicity of the case.
Alisha Summey is a research specialist with Economic Development Commission.
Summey twice played a critical role in the Apple Creek Corporate Center project, completing two tasks that needed to be completed successfully, or there could have been serious consequences.
Gaston County needed all six property owners in the subdivision to sign the plat or a lengthy and costly process would have delayed construction. Summey worked with the owners, explaining the situation and building a relationship with them. All six signed.
Similarly, at another point in the process, it became apparent that another piece of property needed to be purchased for the project to continue. Summey facilitated a survey, a contract, and ultimately the purchase of this property, which saved the project.
Charles Ross is a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office who works security at Social Services.
While working security, Ross has his share of upset or troubled clients. He consistently deescalates the problem, redirects, and calmly puts an end to the drama.
But what makes Ross so special to Social Services is his caring service. He builds relationships with employees and is very observant often recognizing problems before they start. Where Ross goes above and beyond what is asked of him is his role in helping with situations with children. We received many examples of this including the time he talked to a foster child who had barricaded themselves in a room until they were ready to calmly walkout.
Rachel Whitaker is the benefits manager for Gaston County. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, Whitaker’s responsibilities increased significantly and she was a member of the Continuity of Operation Taskforce, ensuring that proper plans and procedures were in place allowing the county to continue serving the community through the pandemic.
She also had responsibility for overseeing the Families First Coronavirus Recovery Act which guaranteed pay for employees who met the criteria for being impacted by COVID.
Whitaker’s greatest contribution to Gaston County was to employees. There were days where she did nothing but speak to employees on the phone about COVID related issues. She listened to many stories from employees about how they were suffering and consoled those who had lost family and friends.
And in her leadership role, Whitaker advocated on behalf of all Gaston County employees ensuring that they had a voice in the room.
Courageous Service Award
Deputy Casey Tignor is a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office.
Tignor is already known as a three-year veteran in Field Operations who has a wealth of knowledge and experience whose energy and positive attitude help motivate the rest of the shift.
On Nov. 11, 2020, Tignor’s quick thinking and action stood out. There was a shooting call and Tignor was the first on scene. He found the victim who had been shot in the leg and was losing a dangerous amount of blood. Tignor was able to administer aid and control the bleeding all while finding out more information about the suspect.
Once GEMS arrived and took over, Tignor continued to question witnesses at the scene. He realized the suspect was still on scene, took him into custody, and turned him over to the County Police for charges related to the shooting.
Teamwork Awards
Angela King, Ellen Wright, Khristie Jackson, and Kyle Gamble are members of the Communicable Disease Team. Lesley Sellers is vaccination coordinator. Together, their outstanding teamwork has been critical to public health’s COVID response.
The Communicable Disease Team of DHHS has been instrumental in the COVID-19 pandemic since the beginning of March 2020. This team has displayed an unwavering response to meet the needs of the Gaston County community by providing contact investigation and tracing, accurate information, education, and resources during this time of much uncertainty.
This team approaches every challenging day with professional attitudes and fortitude even when confronted with dizzying amounts of emails, phone calls, questions, and daily new positives to contact. The team has had to remain current on ever-changing information and guidance from the state and national public health organizations. Their ability to remain the subject matter experts on guidance and protocols is essential in assuring the communication disseminated to the public is accurate.
In Sellers' role as vaccination coordinator, she has been at the center of all COVID vaccination clinics and played a critical role in partnerships with other vaccine providers in the community.
Through the pandemic, this team remains on call and available 24 hours a day. They have worked alongside Gaston County Schools in maintaining a safe learning environment for teachers and students and they have also supported local colleges, businesses, and churches in managing outbreaks and triaging concerns.
Most impressive about all these team members are their positive attitudes and their caring, passion, and humility as they perform this tireless work.
Public Works/Facilities Management Team
Alex Davis, Andrew Allen, Chris McSwain, Dan Whetstine, Danny Yarborough, Justin Barnes, Kenny Palmer, Neil Barnes, Tyler Swink, and Wayne Gentry are members of Public Works/Facilities Management.
The pandemic may have slowed some functions of the county government, but it did not slow down Public Works or Facilities Management. Throughout 2020 this team completed numerous projects including the renovation of the Register of Deeds office, the transition to the new Animal Care and Enforcement facility, renovations at multiple branch libraries, the Jail Infill project, and several major renovations and department moves within the Administration Building, just to name a few.
While their long hours of physical work were outstanding, it was their patience that really stood out. Several times they had to react to plan changes, special requests and had to be conscientious of fellow county employees who remained in place while the renovations were being completed.
The Manager’s Award
Tommy Jenkins is a client service technician IT, but for years county employees have known Jenkins as a customer service superstar. This alone has almost won Jenkins an Employee of the Year Award in the past, but in 2020 Jenkins took his game to another level.
Jenkins played a major role in the IT Business Continuity Plan for the COVID-19 Remote Rollout. As Chief Information Officer Ricky Johnson put it, “when COVID hit, Tommy really showed us what he is made of and what extent he will go to do his job. Tommy was crucial in IT’s response to the pandemic and was most instrumental in providing remote desktop capabilities to staff.”
Between March 9 and April 3, 2020, the county went from about 100 employees to 600 employees who could work virtually. Jenkins was a huge reason for this success.
Jenkins continued to come into the office during the Work From Home phase allowing other technicians to remain home to reduce the number of IT staff in the office. During this phase, he also manned the Service Desk After-Hours phone for over six months. Jenkins also helped set up laptops for Health and DSS for Telemedicine and helped set up the temperature screening stations
Jenkins’ role during the pandemic continues to be critically important as he serves the employees who serve our community. Thanks to his outstanding efforts Gaston County was able to get employees back to work as fast as possible.
Beatriz Guerrero can be reached at 704-869-1828 or on Twitter@BeatrizGue_
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gaston County honors 2021 employees of the year
