Adams County recognizes spring 2025 employee and team-of-the-season winners

At a July 29 public hearing, the Adams County Board of County Commissioners recognized the county's spring 2025 employee and team-of-the-season winners, citing work that county leaders said strengthened services for residents.

The awards began with the Family Assessment and Stabilization Team, known as FAST, receiving the “team of the season” honor. Katie McDougall, Adams County human services director, introduced the team and read the nomination, saying FAST "was created to serve families when child protection concerns existed, but court intervention was not deemed necessary" and that the team provides "compassionate, intensive, and consistent support designed to strengthen families and keep children safely at home." McDougall added, "Making a family feel like they are special, making a family know their worth is so important in the work that we do, and I am just grateful for this team and how they show up for families every day."

The board recognized several individual category winners and one overall spring employee of the season. John Nelson, director of people and culture services, introduced the county’s diversity, equity and inclusion champion award for Safina Ahmed, citing Ahmed’s work on the county’s unconscious-bias class and an "imposter syndrome" pilot course. Nelson said Ahmed "helps us make better decisions, avoid group think, and the 'that's the way it's always been done' mentality." Ahmed spoke to the county’s broader goal of building trust and belonging, saying the work of "fostering a culture of belonging and respect across our organization and community is deeply personal to me."

Information Technology and Innovation director Jason Schultz introduced Arvin (last name not specified in the record), who was nominated for the "making it happen" category for his leadership overseeing the county service desk. Schultz praised Arvin as "always kind, patient, thoughtful" and noted his frequent question, "How can I help?" Miranda Rose and other nominators were identified in the record as having submitted supporting statements for winners in IT and human services categories.

Other category winners included Maggie Merton (performance accelerator), Cheyenne Alfin (success in practice), Joyce Rodriguez (unsung hero) and Adrianna Kasiba (extra effort). Adrianna Kasiba was also named the overall spring employee of the season; the record states she was chosen as the overall winner and that she will receive a trophy and $350 in culture-and-action points in addition to a certificate of recognition.

County remarks during the presentation said category winners receive culture-and-action points and certificates; the record includes two different figures regarding the points award. At one point, the commissioners’ remarks said category winners receive "5,000 culture and action points and a certificate of recognition;" the overall winner was described separately as receiving a $350 culture-and-action award and a trophy. The record does not reconcile those two statements.

The ceremony concluded with a group photo and a county invitation to nominate colleagues for the next season; the county said nominations for the summer employee and team-of-the-season open Aug. 4 and posted details on the county’s employee portal, My Adams.

The recognitions took place during the regular Board of County Commissioners meeting; there was no public comment on the awards during the meeting and commissioners later moved to other agenda items.