Shawnee County honors employees and retirees at quarterly service recognition

Shawnee County commissioners on July 24 recognized county employees and recent retirees across multiple departments during a quarterly service awards ceremony at the Shawnee County Courthouse.

The ceremony, emceed by Michael Augustine of Human Resources, honored employees with 5-, 10-, 15-, 20-, 25-, 30-, 35- and 45-year service milestones and included remarks from department heads and elected officials. Department leaders called attention to long tenures in corrections, parks and recreation, public works and other county divisions.

The event recognized specific employees and service lengths. County Clerk Lisa Schmidt presented Deborah Brock with a 20-year recognition, noting Brock joined the county in February 2005 and now serves as an accountant clerk in the county clerk’s office. Parks and Recreation highlighted Sharon Hammerland for 45 years of service beginning in 1980; Tim Lorette and other parks staff described Hammerland’s horticulture work at Gage Park and Wardmead Botanical Gardens. Public Works recognized long service by survey and stormwater staff, including a 30-year milestone for a surveyor’s assistant and 35 years for Mark Macera, who later transferred into stormwater compliance work. The county appraisal office honored recent retirees including David Meyer (23 years) and another retiree with 37 years in the appraiser’s office.

Department of Corrections officials recognized several long-serving corrections staff and described the range of duties carried by community corrections and juvenile detention staff. Brian Cole, Department of Corrections, noted staff who serve in intensive supervised probation caseloads and described daily responsibilities such as home visits and coordination with community partners. Cole also announced that the county’s juvenile detention operation received full accreditation from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care after an audit that examined medical and behavioral-health standards.

Sheriff Brian Hill outlined careers of four officers with roughly 30 years of service who were not present for the ceremony and summarized their assignments over time, including K-9 and SWAT service, criminal investigations and community outreach roles.

Countywide retirements were also recognized. County officials singled out retirees from the appraisal and treasurer’s offices and praised their long service and institutional knowledge. Several department directors and commissioners used the ceremony to emphasize the county’s customer-service mission. Angela Lewis, director of administrative services, said: "Your years of service are invaluable to us as a county. We can't do the work without you." Commissioner remarks echoed appreciation for steady public-service performance across divisions.

The ceremony closed with expressions of thanks and recognition that many employees’ work spans decades and multiple county reorganizations; no formal policy actions or votes occurred during the recognition segment.