For the past three years, three members of your work unit have been frequently deployed to respond to the call of duty to serve our country. Your work unit has worked shorthanded for three years because of the deployments. During this time, the Mechanical Maintenance work unit has worked extremely hard to keep your heads above water. You have managed to keep the corrective maintenance work order backlog to a minimum, while repairing major equipment at the treatment plants to keep the plants running. On top of that, you have completed several major improvement projects for the Treatment Division; one recent example is the rotary screen upgrades at the Eagle River plant. You have provided superior customer service at our treatment plants. Your team work and commitment to achieve utility goals is commendable and demonstrates that together everyone achieves more.

Your work unit has helped with SCADA project upgrades to the wastewater pump stations. The Pump Maintenance crew, which is part of the Mechanical Maintenance work unit, has worked extensively on the current SCADA upgrades, dedicating more than half of your time to the project compared to pump station maintenance. Your crew replaced or upgraded numerous submersible wastewater pumps. The rest of the work unit was needed to complete additional maintenance jobs normally completed by the pump crew. Your actions promote employee pride and demonstrates that you are innovative and flexible, recognizing that change is continuous.

I join Kurt Egelhofer, O&M Division Director, and Jim Hoodak, Superintendent, in expressing our appreciation and that we are personally very proud and honored to be working with individuals like you, as you are extremely dedicated employees and have exhibited excellent team work.

It gives me great pleasure to present you this award for the Work Unit of the Third Quarter 2008. Thank you for your hard work, and congratulations for a job well done!