November #Teamcity Awards Celebrate People & Teams

At this year’s November Team City Awards ceremony, we gathered to celebrate five outstanding City of Madison employees and five outstanding City Teams of various backgrounds for their work in a wide variety of City services. 

The employees and teams we honored in November were selected from a large pool of candidates, nominated by their peers from within or outside their own division. These nominations are always amazing to read, and the efforts described have made a significant impact on City of Madison’s success. Here are the November 2023 #TeamCity Award winners. 

The #TeamCity Administration Award goes to Victoria Larson. 

Victoria is our Occupational Accommodation Specialist. She works with employees and applicants to evaluate and implement occupational accommodations; coordinates with supervisors and managers to provide information and related education; and works with City partners to build pathways for occupational accommodations. Tory is an exemplary employee with a high degree of professionalism and empathy, and a unique ability to work with a diverse employee group with complex needs. She works effectively with staff across the organization to meet employee needs, and to evaluate and resolve complex employee issues. Tory maintained a consistent focus on equity in the workplace, serving for three years as the Chair of the Women’s Initiatives Committee, focused on supporting employees who may be marginalized because of their gender. Recently, Tory worked with the Department of Civil Rights to build a new affinity space for employees with disabilities. City employees have anonymously praised Tory, including one instance in which she helped an employee transition to a new position. Tory explored many options and was very receptive to the employee’s concerns throughout the process. Tory has an undergraduate degree in Social Work, and training in occupational accommodations. She has worked with the City for over a decade in a variety of roles, working in Organizational Development, Human Resources Services, and Employee and Labor Relations. Tory was nominated by Human Resources Director Erin Hillson. 

The #TeamCity Community Service & Support Award goes to Abigail Ryan. 

Abigail is a Community Engagement Librarian at Sequoya Library. She coordinates programs with library and community partners to create meaningful experiences and events for Sequoya Library patrons. She arranges many programs within the community, such as the Free Tax Assistance program with AARP and the partnership with Artist-in-Residence Poornima Moorthy. She also works with local artists and organizations to display art within Sequoya Library. Recently, Abby organized and coordinated several meaningful programs around mental health and wellness, as well as consumer protection, and even an event with the Henry Villas Zoo. She truly ensures that patrons have the best possible experience at Sequoya Library. Abigail was nominated by Library Assistant at Sequoya Library Melissa Ernst.

The #TeamCity Public Health & Safety Awards goes to Rebecca LeBeau. 

Rebecca is the Data Communications Coordinator at the Health Department. She is the design wizard behind the Health Department’s public data dashboards—first the COVID data dashboard, now the respiratory illness data dashboard, and soon a communicable disease data dashboard. She centers health equity and data justice principles in any data product she develops or reviews. She frames data visualization as an equity issue, making data accessible, usable, and meaningful to community. She works to visualize and frame data in a way that is understandable to non-experts. To guide the design of the dashboard, she hosted a series of one-on-one interviews with individuals from populations disproportionately impacted by respiratory illness: childcare workers, long-term care workers, library workers, older adults, and more. She developed a feedback survey to get the perspectives of those who relied on the COVID data dashboard for information throughout the pandemic. Rebecca’s expertise in technical data elements, as well as design and communication strategies, makes her invaluable to the Health Department. Rebecca was nominated by Public Health Supervisor Katarina Grande. 

The #TeamCity Public Works & Land Use Award goes to Kristin Brodowsky.

Kristin is a Community Outreach Specialist and the Public Information Officer for the City Vision Zero steering team. She develops, designs, and distributes informational material, brochures, layouts, signs, flyers, permits, office forms, and more. Kristin also develops marketing and public outreach materials. She has been responsible for the quarterly Vision Zero newsletters, the website updates, press releases, social media campaigns, and assistance on public outreach events. Kristin has always been a wonderful team member for the Parking and Traffic Engineering Divisions. Recently she acted as a supervisor for the front counter personnel in the absence of an Administrative Supervisor. In addition, she assisted in the recruitment and onboarding of our new Administrative Supervisor. She has been a “calm presence in a storm of uncertainty” over the last year, going above and beyond her routine job duties. Kristin was nominated by Interim Parking Manager David Wills and Traffic Engineering Director Yang Tao. 

The #TeamCity Mayor’s Choice Award goes to Laurel Franklin. 

Laurel is a Land Stewardship Technician. She does restoration work in the natural areas in general parks. This includes methodical weed management, prescribed burns, seeding, and brush cleaning. She is an exceptional worker and generous in sharing her knowledge of ecology and restoration work. She played a key role in the success of the newly formed ecology team, helping train new employees and setting a positive tone with her empathy, kindness, and passion. Laurel started out as a General Parks Worker and was promoted to a Land Stewardship Technician a few years ago. She has done an excellent job prioritizing, organizing, and working hard for our prairies and savannas, steering the stewardship of our public land in the right direction. Laurel was nominated by Ecology Leadworker Megan McCrumb.

The #TeamCity Administration Team Award goes to the Water Customer Service/Billing Team, nominated by Customer Service Supervisor Cristal Dollard.

Team members are Brenda Fetherston, Dominique Haskins, Sherri Becker, Amy Kerwin, Nancy Nesvacil, Carla Skyberg, and Colleen Garde.

The Water Customer Service/Billing Team was nominated for their dedication during the rollout of the Tyler Utility Billing Portal at the end of 2022. The team is now providing excellent help and customer service for over 80,000 accounts with this system. During the transition, the team worked diligently to try to make the new system as successful as possible, all while keeping up with the daily duties required to accurately process bills and payments. This required many hours of overtime, and the customer service representatives triaged frustrated calls and emails during the transition of the billing portal. Despite the stressful nature of this project, the team maintained a positive attitude and work environment through it all. The success of the billing software and online portal would not have been possible without the incredible customer service team. 

The #TeamCity Community Service & Support Team Award goes to the Emergency Housing Voucher Team, nominated by Housing Program Analyst Lisa Daniels. 

Team members are Kim Kennedy and Torrie Kopp Mueller. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) implemented the Emergency Housing Voucher program in July of 2021, as funded by American Rescue Plan Act. The Emergency Housing Voucher program allows local Public Housing Authorities, such as Madison’s Community Development Authority (CDA), to provide housing choice vouchers to individuals and families who are homeless; at-risk of homelessness; fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or human trafficking; or, were recently homeless or have a risk of housing instability. The Emergency Housing Voucher program provided an opportunity for Kim Kennedy, CDA’s Admissions and Eligibility Coordinator, to partner directly with Torrie Kopp Mueller, the City of Madison’s Continuum of Care Coordinator with Community Development Division, to provide tenant-based voucher assistance to those community members determined most in need of the assistance.

Kim and Torrie worked together from the start of the project to leverage existing resources by connecting the Coordinated Entry system and Continuum of Care service providers in a meaningful and effective manner for quick referrals to the CDA. Kim and Torrie are both quick to respond, have a focus on connecting people to housing opportunities as easily as possible, and a good awareness about the work needed for this project. Thanks to them, the Emergency Housing Voucher program has helped many members of the community.

The #TeamCity Public Health and Safety Team Award goes to the Crossing Guard Team, nominated by Yang Tao, Renee Callaway, Alex Stewart, and Niko Magallon.

This team consists of 59 permanent and on-call crossing guards, Alex Stewart, and Niko Magallon. 

The Crossing Guard Team is responsible for safely guiding students, parents, and pedestrians on their way to and from school at hazardous intersections. At 50 crossings, guards cross approximately 2000 K-5 students each shift throughout the City of Madison. This team has endured several challenges over the last few years. When schools were closed due to COVID, crossing guards did not work, but stood at the ready all the same. The team changed homes from the Police department to the Traffic Engineering department, and got two new Crossing Guard Supervisors who adapted quickly to their responsibilities. Last minute school time changes in 2021 led to shifts becoming later and longer. Ongoing hiring challenges necessitated a quarter of guards accepting more corners to help cover vacancies, more than doubling workloads from 10 hours/week to over 20. Daily, the guards perform their work in all elements without the refuge of a warm truck cab. They stand at the ready for their students and community. Guards witness and relay unsafe driving behavior to Supervisors that can result in Police intervention to aid in improving safety in school zones. Guards have rescued an infant from crawling into a street, called 911 upon witness of traffic accidents, offered their phone to a stranded student so they could call their parent, and tied the shoes of a student whose hands were full with a school project to prevent them from tripping. The dedication of the Crossing Guard Team is truly impressive, and our community is lucky to have them.

The #TeamCity Public Works & Land Use Team Award goes to the Parks Ecology Team, nominated by Park Planner-2 Sarah Grimalkin.

Team members are Molly Berkholtz, Laurel Franklin, Megan McCrumb, and Anna Wilkie. 

The Ecology Team is responsible for a significant portion of the Parks Division’s reforesting and naturalization efforts. Their expertise and contributions to our Emerald Ash Borer response plan has included planting, watering, and maintaining nearly 6,500 trees since 2015. They are also responsible for establishing and maintaining over 800 acres of native vegetation in our general parks. They are always researching new, innovative methods of maintaining these areas to maximize efficiency and minimize impact on the surrounding environment. The Ecology Team shows their enthusiasm and their dedication to improving our public spaces not only for City residents, but also for the health of our environment. They deliver projects efficiently and collaborate effectively with other departments, maximizing their impact. 

The #TeamCity Mayor’ Choice Team Award goes to the Paid Leave for Organ Donors Team, nominated by Erin Nunez.

Team members are Erin Hillson and Erin Nunez. 

There are thousands of people across the country waiting for an organ transplant. Living donors can help patients in need of a kidney or liver transplant. Although FMLA covers City employees, many employees do not have enough paid time off accrued to cover their leave. Erin Nunez brought this issue to the attention of Human Resources, and Erin Hillson ushered the idea through the City’s Meet and Confer process. Erin played a crucial role in guiding it through the process, securing support from all stakeholders. Ultimately, the paid leave for organ donors was approved by the Common Council in December 2021. The Organ Donor Paid Leave of Absence policy allows up to 5 days of paid leave for a bone marrow donation and up to 30 days of paid leave for a living donor organ donation.

Congratulations to all who were recognized for their amazing work this November and thank you to all who nominated an award recipient. The City is a great place to live and work thanks to people like them.