The

Scoop February 2015

Volume 23, Issue 1

A Newsletter for City of Seguin Employees

Water and Wastewater Plants End Year Without Violations

DATES TO REMEMBER

April 3 Good Friday (city holiday)

March 7

Spring Clean-Up Day HHW Collection Event

March 12

Employee Awards Luncheon

March 21 ArtsFest

April 10 Moonlight and Roses

April 25 Earth Day Festival

Trade Days

The Scoop is a

Publication of the

Public Information Office

Imagine regulators requiring the testing of tens of thousands of samples of your work with the goal of finding some-thing that’s not quite up to par. For the staff at the Water and Wastewater plants, that’s reality.

The Texas Commission on Environ-mental Quality wrapped up inspections last year without issuing a single violation!

“We are extremely proud of the hard-working and dedicated staff at the plants,” Water/Wastewater Director Em-ery Gallagher said. “This reinforces the

Safety First! Electric/Utilities Department

Achieves Three Years Without Lost-Time Accident Congratulations

to the Electric/Utilities Department for achiev-ing three years without a lost-time accident!

“This is a re-markable achievement, especially considering the nature of the work,” Assistant Human Re-sources Director Nona Vogel said. “Each and every member of the Electric/Utilities Department contributed to this impressive safety milestone.”

Electric/Utilities employees often work under extreme conditions that include live electricity. These circumstances illus-trate the dedication needed to achieve such an impressive milestone.

“I’m very proud of our team for this accomplishment,” Electric Utilities Director Clarence Smith said. “Working together as a

brotherhood allows the team the oppor-tunity to achieve goals like this. They are very dedicated and enjoy their jobs.”

Avoiding lost-time accidents results in significant financial savings for the city.

The department provides the con-struction of new facilities needed to extend electrical service to new customers and per-forms maintenance on 110 miles of over-head electric lines, 26 miles of underground electric lines, three substations and installs and maintains all street and security lights.

superior quality of our water and should be a point of pride not only for our staff but the community as well.”

TCEQ required nearly 34,000 sam-ples to be tested to ensure the facilities were meeting standards. When certain violations are discovered, municipalities must report them to the public. No such violation reports were required in Seguin.

Each and every member of the staff at the plants holds at least one TCEQ certification. That’s something else many cities can’t claim.

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Employee of the Month Awards

Top left: November 2014 - Assistant Director of Human Resources Nona Vogel

Top right: December 2014 - Officer Clayton Deagen and his partner, K9 Officer Zoey

Left: January 2015 - Schertz-Seguin Local Government Corporation Administrative Assistant Regina Franke

Upcoming Community Events ArtsFest 2015 will take place March 21 from 10 a.m.

to 9 p.m. at Central Park, Starcke Park and the Texas Theatre. The event will include a color run, pet art “Poochanga,” arts activities in Central Park, art auction, live entertainment, arti-sans market and more. This event is free and open to the public. For up-to-date information, please “like” the new Se-guin Arts Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SeguinArts.

The 7th Annual Earth Day Festival and Trade Days is April 25 in downtown. Join area businesses, organizations and community groups to learn how we can improve our quality life in Seguin through conservation, recycling, habitat improvement and the wise use of natural resources. This event is free and open to the public. Information booths, chil-dren's activities, entertainment, music, vendor booths, demonstrations and more.

The annual Moonlight and Roses event is April 10 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Memorial Rose Garden at Wal-nut Springs Park. The evening venue kicks off with the an-nouncement of the Main Street Program Awards for 2014-2015. Local restaurants donate hors d’oeuvres, accompanied by live entertainment. The event is free and open to the pub-lic.

If you haven’t checked out the Seguin Economic De-velopment Corporation's beautiful aerial videos of our city, you’re missing out!

The videos take viewers on a bird’s eye tour of Se-guin, showing off what we have to offer people and busi-nesses looking to move here. The aerials also give current residents a fresh look at just what a great place we live.

To see these and other city videos, visit youtube.com/cityseguin. Theses particu-lar videos are on the channel’s SEDC playlist. As of mid-February they had more than 4,400 combined views!

Making A Difference

Tidbits Operation Blue Santa

A big thank you to everyone who made the Police Depart-ment’s Operation Blue Santa another great success!

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Paper pay stubs are no longer being issued. The documents will now be e-mail to employ-ees. If you want to change the e-mail address where your pay stub is sent, contact Diana Johnson in Human Resources.

If you have changed addresses, phone numbers or experienced life-changing events, please see Diana Johnston in Human Resources to review and/or update your personal infor-mation.

Training on the new employee timekeeping system is under-way and will continue in the coming weeks.

The Scoop has gone digital. The employee newsletter is availa-ble at issuu.com/seguinscoop. It will also be e-mailed to em-ployees and a limited number of copies made available in city facility break rooms.

Employees Recognized for Going Above and Beyond the Call of Duty

A sampling of some of the of 2014 Making a Difference Award winners. Pictured left to right: The Employee Wellness Expo Committee, Streets Department, Facilities Department and Human Resource Receptionist Anita Gomez.

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Welcome to the Team!

Another Year Older, Another Year Wiser Happy Birthday! January

1 Leah Lewis Jeremiah Villareal

2 Gustavo Jimenez Jeffery Joslyn

3 Shelley Lutz

4 Analyzia Morales Guillermo Villarreal

6 Michael Guerra

7 Regina Franke

10 Christopher Shimek

11 Earl Richard

13 Elizabeth Arambula Anita Gomez

14 Richard Hansen

15 Jessica Delacruz

16 D’Zhona Schuler

20 Jesus Garcia

22 Randy Odom

24 Ernest Schmidt, Jr. Michael Bodin

26 Pamela Herrera Olivia Deleon

27 Bruno Cavazos Andrew Weertman

28 Darrell Alford Julian Gomez

29 Mary Lou Williams Lisa Trevino Michael Orichuela Ryan Hale Gabriel Guttierez Abelardo Carrillo

31 Christine Hopper

February

4 Kade Zunker

6 Adrian Martinez Le Kiet Yolanda Iglesias Diana Gould

10 Victor Pacheco

11 Robert Castanon Susan Oliver Gregg Wright

12 Clarence Smith Silvia Christy

13 Kacey Klaus

14 Julian Olvera

15 Melody Smith Geoffrey Martinez

16 Wayne Miller Joel Strzelczyk

17 Ethan Courtney

18 Joshua Kennington

20 Dorothy Clark

21 Franklin Thomas Landra Solansky Steve Leal Terry Glascock

23 Michael Salazar

24 Jennifer Baltierra Joseph Blahnik

25 Marcos Martinez Maria Perez

28 Albert Sanchez James Vassar

March

1 Steven Cates Bradlee Flippin

2 Vanessa Herrera

3 Gloria Ortega Carlos Contreras

4 Patrick Hoeffner

5 Santos Castillo

10 Henry Chavez, Jr.

12 Robert Carrillo Christopher Gonzales Gregorio Rodriguez

Jose Barrios, Electric Crew Leader

Aimee Briseno, Kennel Attendant

Trevor Childs, Electric Apprentice

Breanna Cochran, Recreation Instructor

Jessica Delacruz, Telecommunications Operator

Armando Garcia, Collector

John Geffre, Firefighter

Jordan Ghawi, Firefighter (PT)

Sergio Guardiola, Firefighter

Mark Herbold, Council Person

Xena, High-Walls, Recreation Instructor

Marla Jendrusch, Firefighter (PT)

Daniel Klaus, Firefighter

Cole Luensmann, Recreation Instructor

William Nichols, Equipment Operator

Nikole Pettey, Recreation Instructor

Thomas Pinder, Jr. Fire Inspector

Neek Razavi, Firefighter (PT)

David Rice, Firefighter (PT)

Michael Salazar, Parks Service Worker

Samuel Sanchez, Firefighter

Sydney Seehausen, Recreation Instructor

Philip Seidenberger, Council Person

Donald Strowder, Operator-in-Training

Richard Villela, Journeyman Lineworker

Morgan Wolter, Firefighter (PT)

Facebook.com/SeguinTX

15 Westley Krueger David Cowey

16 Peter Ward Clayton Skinner Jeremy Orr

17 Kristen Fatta

18 Timothy Reinikka

19 Tabor Mahan

20 Kathy Salinas Kurtis Hinkle

21 Maria Cevallos Bobby Hyatt James White

24 Cosme Mendez

26 Gerald Guerrero Jason Hesskew

27 Mark Shoemaker Billy Heiman

29 Gerald Bodin

30 Clayton Deagen Amber Logan Garrett Sanders

31 Nikole Pettey Carlos Medrano

Twitter.com/SeguinCityHall