Eagle County staffers honored for COVID-19 work

Several Eagle County employees have recently received acknowledgement and awards from outside organizations for their professional achievements in 2020. Many employees were recognized for their dedication in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These awards are just one way that we celebrate the innovation and collaboration that occur in our community,” Eagle County Director of Human Resources Hollis Dempsey said. “We love seeing our teammates recognized as leaders across the state; it’s a testament to our exceptional workforce at Eagle County.”

Eagle County Commissioner Matt Scherr added: “2020 will certainly go down as one of the most challenging years of our generation. We are incredibly proud of all of our county staff who spent long hours, weekends, and holidays seeing this community through the crisis as smoothly as possible. Some individuals went so far above and beyond the requirements of even exceptional public service that they have been acknowledged for their work. We are deeply grateful to have such talented people working on behalf of the Eagle County community.”

Honors were awarded to these individuals and/or departments:

• Birch Barron, director of emergency management, was awarded the Leadership Award by the Rotary Club of Eagle County Public Safety Awards Committee.
• Geralyn D. Carroll, a registered nurse, along with the women, infants, and children team received recognition from the state of Colorado for their efforts in Summit County.
• Jackie Hammel, public health nurse for the disease prevention and control wing of public health, was awarded the Public Safety Service Commendation by the Eagle River Fire District in recognition of her efforts to protect the county’s first responders and larger community.
• Jordan Harrison of the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office was awarded the Medal of Valor by the Rotary Club of Eagle County Public Safety Awards Committee.
• Jason Leffler, quality and performance analyst, and Brandon Williams, innovation and strategy manager, were featured in GovTech Magazine for tracking real time COVID-19 data and creating a localizable template that was adopted statewide. Leffler and Williams gave multiple global audience presentations, helped design and launch the first ever Google public sector community, spoke at the public sector global launch and also were awarded the Government Experience Award for COVID-19 response.
• Mike McWilliam of the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Rotary Club of Eagle County Public Safety Awards Committee.
• Heath Mosness of the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office was awarded the First Responder of the Year Award by the Rotary Club of Eagle County Public Safety Awards Committee.
• Kevin Sharky of ECO Trails co-received the Colorado American Public Works Association award for Best in State for Small Community Parks and Trail Projects.
• Glenda Wentworth, CSU Extension director, was a co-recipient of the National Food Safety Team Award for the Preserve Smart app/website awarded by the National Extension Association of Family & Consumers Sciences.
• The Avon Police Department Chief’s Community Partnership Award for demonstrating outstanding commitment to the community and law enforcement profession through acts and accomplishments that promote a positive interaction between the citizens of Avon and law enforcement was awarded to Eagle County staff members Jeff Shroll, Angelo Fernandez, Kelley Collier, Heath Harmon, Rebecca Larson, Jackie Hammel, Birch Barron, Megan Burch, Abby Dallman, Kris Widlak, Adam Palmer, Morgan Beryl and Kim Goodrich.
• Eagle County Government received the Vail Valley Partnership Healthy Workplace award for 2019-2020
• ECO Transit was selected as the Resort Agency of the Year by the Colorado Association of Transit Agencies for best practices in coordination with public health. requirements and overall response to delivering service during COVID-19.
• The Eagle County Regional Airport received the National Award of Merit in the Aviation category from the Design-Build Institute of America as well as the 2020 Award of Distinction from the Colorado chapter of the American Institute of Architects.