City Beat
T
he City of Morgan Hill, as an organization, lives by five core values expressed in the following
values statement. “The City of Morgan Hill is an organization that provides outstanding
Customer Service, excels at meeting Challenges, encourages Innovation, provides
opportunities for Professional Growth, and recognizes the Teamwork of employees.”
Recently, the City engaged all teammates in the organization to expand upon the organization’s
core values and what the values mean to them. This conversation, over the course of five weeks,
resulted in five colorful and inviting word clouds that offer a more detailed explanation of the values
that drive everything the City does.
These core values are also used each year as the basis of “peak performance” awards which
are announced at the end of each year at the annual City of Morgan Hill Employee Recognition
Celebration. Through recommendations by their peers, employees best demonstrating the Core
Values are honored for their contributions and the difference they have made for the community and
the organization over the year.
The 2016 Customer Service award winner is Detective Mindy Zen because
she has dedicated her efforts to helping others in time of great need. This year
her exceptional work, passion, caring nature and services were recognized
on a much larger scale when the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office
created an annual award named after her. The new award will be given to a
person who best exemplifies Mindy’s tireless determination and compassion in
working with survivors of domestic violence.
Two teammates were awarded the Challenge award for 2016. John Baty, Interim
Planning Manager and Steve Golden, Associate Planner both were actively
engaged in two significant efforts that will positively impact the Morgan Hill
Community and the City organization for years to come. Because of their leader-
ship, Morgan Hill 2035 General Plan was adopted by the Morgan Hill City Council,
the City’s long standing growth management system was overwhelmingly passed by
Morgan Hill voters, and the much needed TrackIt software was implemented and is
now being used to more effectively manage permit and project review.
Nicole Yates, Police Records Specialist, is the 2016 Innovation award winner.
Nichole worked with the courts, dispatcher teammates and others to develop
a paperless warrant system. This process now allows for warrants to be pro-
cessed, confirmed and sent to arresting agencies electronically. All of this was
done with her motivation and drive to do things differently and better!
Daniel Cardwell, Building Inspector II, saw an opportunity within the organiza-
tion and invested his time to obtain the necessary training. This included formal
classwork and working alongside other teammates to prepare for new job
responsibilites. He now has four Fire Inspector certifications. He is continuing
to further his training with an advanced Fire Plan Review Class, advanced Plan
Review and Fire Sprinkler Design class.
Teamwork: Nowhere in Nichole Martin’s (Community Services Coordinator)
or Charlie Ha’s (Associate Engineer) job descriptions are they responsible
for the services they are providing each week to their teammates. They both
have dedicated their personal time to serve their fellow teammates by helping
them to improve their health and wellness by providing lunch time classes in
karate and circuit training.
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GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
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