May 6—Berea municipal employees were recognized in a proclamation commemorating National Public Service Recognition Week, which runs May 7-13 in Berea.

Berea city officials took a moment to thank municipal employees for their service while commemorating National Public Service Recognition Week, which runs May 7-13. Mayor Fraley officially recognized the week with a proclamation at Tuesday's Berea City Council meeting.

While the proclamation is meant to honor all public service employees at the various levels of city, county, state and federal government, it makes special note of Berea city employees.

In addition to recognizing the work all public employees do in providing vital public services, the proclamation reads, in part:

"...the public employees of the City of Berea are committed to exhibiting the highest standards of professional excellence, creativity, skill, and customer service, and, Whereas, the City of Berea recognizes the generous contributions of the time and talent by city employees and the importance of the services they render."

In accepting the proclamation on behalf of all city employees, Berea City Administrator Rose Beverly expressed gratitude for her co-workers.

Said Beverly: "We want to take the time to appreciate them, because most of their work goes on behind the scenes, and you really don't know what they're doing until you have a problem. But most of what happens just runs so smoothly because we have, I would dare to say, some of the best, talented, smartest, hardworking people that you could ever ask for. And I can say that because I get to work with them every day, and I am so grateful for that."

The measure asks citizens to express their appreciation for the work public servants do, something Beverly hopes will happen here in town.

"If you see anybody out with a Berea logo on, take a minute to tell them thank you for their hard work because we really are very blessed to have such wonderful people keeping the city going," Rose said.

Citing a report during the meeting by Public Works Director Roy Curtis, Councilman Steve Caudill echoed the sentiment that city employees often aren't appreciated until there is a crisis or a problem that needs fixing.

"A lot of it seems mundane, but until your street is not fixed, or your street is not scraped, or your brush isn't picked up, we as citizens don't realize how much work on a daily basis our employees do," Caudill said. "And I hope over the next week that we have the opportunity to say great job to everybody, whether it's our public works, our finance department, our fire or police department, our parks that we enjoy, but thank you to all of our staff because you all make it very easy to do this job."

Councilmember Cora Jane Wilson said city employees don't receive enough praise for their contributions to the city's quality of life, at which point she thanked tourism, planning and zoning, finance, parks, public works, police and fire personnel, and the rest of the city staff.

"To all of our city departments and staff, you are wonderful," Wilson said. "People don't brag on you enough in my opinion, but let me tell you, you all make the city click. Thank you."

Mayor Fraley thanked city employees for being good ambassadors through their hard work.

"Thanks to all of our city employees who do a fantastic job. The city employees are really the ones who provide the services to the citizens and represent all of us so well and serve the community so well. We're grateful for their service," Fraley said.