City Manager Tom Hatch presented Recreation Coordinator Kevin Stoddart with the City Manager Leadership Award at the monthly Meet and Greet employee recognition event on Thursday Jan. 25.
“As someone who has managed recreation and community services in the past, I know how important Kevin’s work is in regards to teaching kids about water safety and preventing drownings,” Hatch said. “I know I appreciate him, but even more I know his colleagues appreciate him as a hard worker who does the best job for the public we serve.”
Stoddart is a seven-year employee who began with the city as a part-time lifeguard and eventually was promoted to a full-time Recreation Coordinator.
In his role, he ensures the city remains compliant with all local, state, and federal laws governing water safety, and his staff is well-equipped to provide this same level of care during the busy summer months when Aquatics is the busiest.
He works to make sure his staff is trained properly, and his work ethic extends beyond that of his job description.
In January 2017, Stoddart was assigned the teen program, and he saw this as an opportunity to develop his staff and use his critical thinking skills to think of new ways to increase program attendance. And he was successful – in fact, so successful that the program reached new high records in attendance.
While his leadership is evident to both his supervisors and his peers, the same can be said in his interactions with the general public. His level of customer service is bar none, and again, his critical thinking enables him to provide customers with more than a “no” or a “maybe” – he always looks for ways to accommodate the public to the best of his ability and ensure their experience with the Parks & Community Service is a memorable one.
He is a great contributor to the team and always looks and is willing to share creative ideas to take the department to the next level.
In addition to honoring Stoddart, City Manager Hatch welcomed several new employees and congratulated one on a promotion.
The new employees include, Antonette Penalba, an intern working with the Network for Homeless Solutions, Stacy Daugherty, the city’s new Finance Director, Jonathan Cruz, a Recreation Leader II and Cassandra Gamboa and Yassmin Perez, both Recreation Leader III.
Police Aide Miguel Villana was also recognized as well as Mikaela Soriano and Don Vu, two new interns in Public Services. Finally, City Manager Hatch congratulated Arash Rahimian for his promotion to senior engineer.