Scott Heaton — described as a “go to guy” — is the City of Manteca’s 2014 Employee of the Year.
The Parks & Recreation Department worker’s selection by fellow employees was announced Saturday at the 44th annual City of Manteca Employee Awards Banquet conducted at the Manteca Senior Center.
“Due to budget and staffing cuts over the years, (Scott) has had to take on many roles,” noted City Manager Karen McLaughlin. “He is currently doing a job that used to take two to three people to do.”
Heaton’s typical day may include numerous questions from multiple employees, over 30 phone calls, being yelled at by an angry resident or two, scheduling departmental tasks, solving problems on the fly, troubleshooting system failures and being pulled in every imaginable direction possible.
He started his career with the City of Manteca in 1997 as a Parks & Recreation employee. Many days were spent mowing the turf in the parks, repairing facilities and performing “other duties as assigned”. As his leadership skills became obvious, he worked his way up to a leadership position in the department and has succeeded in this role.
“No matter what challenge is put before him, he takes it in stride and with a positive attitude,” McLaughlin noted. “Whether it’s a simple request like, ‘please remove the downed tree limb blocking the sidewalk’, or a more challenging request like ‘please remove the downed tree that is on top of a car’ or the occasional, absurd request like ‘hey, can you go remove the picnic table that someone put in a tree at Bay Meadows Park’ (true story) — no matter what the challenge, he gets it done.”
Recognition was also provided for employees for years of service, retirees and new hires.
• ADMINISTRATION: 5 Year: Jeff Davis; 10 Year: Sophal Ros
• FINANCE DEPARTMENT: 5 Year: Amber Shipman
• FIRE DEPARTMENT: 5 Year: Chris Jones, Mike Loomis, Bernard Missouri, Derek Leong; 10 Year Jeff Dennis; 15 Year: Mike Hohn, Robert Martinez; 25 Year: Robert Villalovoz
• PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT: 10 Year: Glen (Hubert) Brady; 25 Year: Pat Volk
• POLICE DEPARTMENT: 5 Year: Scott Cunningham, Marci Jones, Pamela Takahashi; 10 Year: Rob Armosino, David Bright, Armando Garcia, Dale Goforth, William Mueller, Lisa Lewis; 15 Year: Greg Beall, Paul Carmona; 20 Year: Charlie Goeken, Randy Chiek
• PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT: 5 Year: Kyle Dodd, John Eggers, Thomas Mannor; 10 Year: Regena DeCosta, Eric Davis, Lester Poulsen; 15 Year: Jason Holzer, Filiberto Ochoa, Jason Wallace; 20 Year: John Adams, Annette Saberniak; 30 Year: Dave Kuesthardt, Tim Kuesthardt
• RETIRED EMPLOYEES 2014: Mark Hall, Parks and Recreation; Barry Blackburn, Police Department; Rick DeCosta, Public Works Department; Kenneth Matthews, Public Works Department; James DeJong; Public Works Department; Jeff Koester, Finance Department; Margaret Ramirez, Public Works Department; and Danny Lipe Public Works Department
• EMPLOYEES HIRED IN 2014: Kenia Ramirez, Wastewater; Stephen Smith, Police;
Elizabeth Yee, Community Development; Bryan Mason, Wastewater; Debra Williams, Community Development; Scott Lewis, Solid Waste; Melissa Booth, Police; Allison Diaz, Community Development; Georgina Lantsberger, Finance; Thomas Shipman, Building Maintenance; Jason Yun, Wastewater; Casandra Candini, Finance; Leila Menor, Finance; Stan Van Winkle, Community Development; Daniel Bettencourt, Vehicle Maintenance; Brian Macias, Fire; Michael Pease, Solid Waste; Emelia Horn, Police;
Frank Guillory. Public Works; Joshua Gutierrez, Police; Daniel Peters, Police; John Clymo, Public Works; Mark Huber, Wastewater; Matiel Holloway, Public Works; Bret Swain, Public Works; Lauren Maneau, Public Works; Malinda Loera, IT; Nicholas Karastathas, Parks & Recreation; and Jordanne Joseph, Police.
