Parks Salutes Its Employees Of The Month

Jill Weber is the Commissioner’s Employee of the Month for December.
Jill is the Rockaway Administrator and has been with Parks since July 14, 1980. She works to ensure that Parks’ Rockaways properties are well maintained and an accessible resource for local constituents. Jill works closely with community organizations, friends groups and local elected officials to improve these sites and develop programming in the area. In 2011, the Rockaways saw larger audiences than ever before due to her work on annual festivals, music, sports, and movie programs. After Hurricane Irene, Jill worked tirelessly to ensure repairs were completed in time for a surf competition as part of the World Police and Fire Games taking the following week. At the end of the summer she worked on properly securing areas that suffered extensive damage by Hurricane Irene. Jill is also working on the emergency contracts for the beach to prepare for the 2012 beach season. Recently, she also facilitated the approval of three PlaNYC contracts by the community: the Beach 90th St. Skate Park, Lanett Playground and Beach Channel Playground. For her tireless efforts she was nominated by Queens Borough Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski.

Dmitry Tadson is the Capital Projects Employee of the Month for December.
Dmitry is an Accountant and has been with Parks since May 1, 1995. He oversees all aspects of construction payments for Capital Projects and ensures that the process goes smoothly. Dmitry ensures that paperwork is in order, calculates payment amounts, and enters payment vouchers into FMS3. In Fiscal Year 2011, Dmitry processed 2,483 payment vouchers for a total of $347,683,000 or 89% of the payments processed in the accounting department. Hard working and dedicated, Dmitry is always willing to tutor colleagues in FMS3 or assist with other tasks. For his efforts he was nominated by Deputy Commissioner Therese Braddick and Director of Finance Ghislaine Pierre.

Melvin Carey is the Management Employee of the Month for December.
Melvin is a Job Developer in the Parks Opportunity Program and has been with Parks since May 9, 2006. Melvin works with Job Training Participants (JTPs) to gain employment after their seasonal lines at Parks ends. He aids JTPs in compiling their resumes, prepping for job interviews, and in their search for employment. Melvin created a mini job fair in Manhattan to assist in their job search. So far in FY12 he has already placed 49 JTPs into jobs. For his dedication he was nominated by Deputy Commissioner Robert Garafola and Chief of the Parks Opportunity Program Liza Ehrlich.

Russel Reiner is an Operations Employee of the Month for August.
Russel was unable to attend September’s ceremony and was honored at last week's ceremony instead. Russel is a Forest Restoration Field Crew Member in the Bronx and works on the Croton Forest Restoration Project. Russel has been with Parks since September 19, 2005. Russel is a dedicated employee and works diligently to curb the growth of invasive species, promote plant diversity, and remove dead or downed trees. Since the beginning of the restoration project five years ago, he along with Ruben Aristy have been the only field staff and have worked with volunteers to plant 56,982 trees and 68,194 herbaceous plugs over 15 acres. Forest restoration is an important aspect of our PLANYC environmental agenda, and Russel is on the ground and in the woods making it happen. For his efforts he was nominated by First Deputy Commissioner Liam Kavanagh and Project Manager Richard Love.

Wister Dorta is an Operations Employee of the Month for December.
Wister is a forester and has been with Parks since January 14, 2008. Wister manages all aspects of the tree planting program in Brooklyn including tree procurement contracts and the permit system for Central Forestry. He works on inspecting and issuing permits as well as communicating with the public on many tree related issues. During the Fall 2011 season Wister was instrumental to keeping our plantings on track. Recently, he has taken the lead in the development of the new software program HUB which will allow the agency to track the thousands of plan reviews and permits that are issued citywide. For his efforts he was nominated by First Deputy Commissioner Liam Kavanagh and Chief of Forestry Bram Gunther.

Emily Stringer-Akesson is an Operations Employee of the Month for December.
Emily is a gardener and has been with Parks since March 1, 2004. She works at the Silver Lake Greenhouse to ensure plant propagation and the maintenance of Staten Island’s 327 green streets, 84 greeting gardens and 65 operation releaf sites. She is a master gardener and often exceeds propagation goals. Emily knows her plants inside out and is adept at determining when to plant them, prune them, feed them, and care for them when they’re under attack by other species. For her efforts to beautify Staten Island she was nominated by First Deputy Commissioner Liam Kavanagh, Borough Commissioner Adena Long and Director of Horticulture Adriana Jacykewycz.

Bonnie McGuire is the Public Programs Employee of the Month for December.
Bonnie is the Deputy Director of the Urban Park Rangers and has been with Parks since September 4, 2002. Bonnie develops, markets and implements Ranger programs such as the Junior Ranger summer camp, the adventure course and the natural classroom. She also oversees all grant funded programs and assists in the recruitment and hiring of full time and seasonal staff. Recently, Bonnie was instrumental in the Rapid Process Improvement Exercise run by Public Programs. In addition, she addressed some of the recurring challenges to obtaining the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s approval of our summer camps. Bonnie worked diligently to apply the principles of “lean six sigma” and “kaizen” to these programs and in streamlining our summer camp operations. For her hard work she was nominated by Assistant Commissioner Annika Holder, Chief of Programming and Strategic Management Emily Chase and Director of Urban Park Rangers Sarah Aucoin.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

“The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.”

Henry Kissinger
(1923 - )

<< Back to Daily Plants Main.