Rilwan Etti
Health & Human Services
Rilwan Etti worked with Seven Acres Jewish Senior Care Services to help get its swimming pool in compliance, wrote Malcolm Slatko and Marsha Cayton.
“We very much appreciate your knowledge and recommendations to meet the code requirements,” they wrote. “Your attention to our questions and extra site visit was helpful, and the repeat inspection was most timely.
“We all hold you in the highest regard here.”
Adriana Chapa
Convention & Entertainment Facilities
Adriana Chapa was courteous and effective while helping resolve Sylvia Goldman’s issue with a parking citation.
“It was a pleasure being helped by Ms. Chapa,” Goldman wrote.
John Gonzalez
Convention & Entertainment Facilities
John Gonzalez is one of the reasons the 2006 Houston – Galveston Hurricane Workshop was so successful, wrote Bill Read, meteorologist in charge. Attendance topped 1,000, compared to the usual 500-700.
“John was with us throughout the planning process and helped immeasurably during the event,” Read wrote. “We would certainly welcome the opportunity to hold our event at the George R. Brown Convention Center in 2007.”
Lisa Brown also praised Gonzalez after the Bridal Extravaganza. Gonzalez calmly helped the organizers solve numerous problems, Brown wrote.
“We were wary of his assignment as our event manager because he had not served in that capacity before, but our concerns were unfounded,” Brown wrote. “Not only did he meet our expectations, but he also went above and beyond to make sure our event ran smoothly.”
Yvonne Melendez
Human Resources
Yvonne Melendez is the true definition of a public servant, wrote P. LeBlanc.
For two days, Melendez helped LeBlanc as he applied for a position with the city. It felt like he had a friend helping him, LeBlanc wrote.
“Her knowledge, ability to transfer that knowledge, and, most of all, her patience gave me a feeling of total completeness in my efforts to file for the position, and she made sure I didn’t feel stupid asking questions.”
Bob Conners, Rob Clifton, Charles Mitchell, Bobby Oakes
Public Works & Engineering
One week before its opening, the long-term acute care hospital that Beck-Ford Construction was building had no water because it still needed a six-inch meter, wrote Robert Becktell, president.
Bobby Oakes put Becktell in touch with the people who calibrate and set meters. Three days later, the meter was set. On the following Monday, after the company’s fire sprinkler contractor and plumber made the necessary tie-ins, Oakes, Rob Clifton and Bob Conners met with Becktell and agreed to send a site inspector.
That evening, Charles Mitchell inspected the hospital on the Katy Freeway and gave Becktell a list of minor deficiencies. He returned the next day to make sure those had been corrected.
“This project went from having no water to moving patients into a fully operational hospital in six days. Without the help of these people, this would not have been possible,” Becktell wrote.
“We build facilities all over the country, and trust me, no other city or community has ever gone over and above the call of duty to help a contractor like these men did. The city of Houston is blessed to have such dedicated men who understand it’s not a matter of whether there are problems, but rather how can we resolve the situations.”