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  GOLD -  Shared by all staff members of the Animal Services Authority
Top, back row - left to right: Todd Stosuy, Nicole Jones, Staycee Dains, Tricia Geisreiter, Ronnie Harris, Michael Sharp
2nd row - left to right: Rose Krug, Jenny Price, Natalia Rivera-Espana, Henry Brzezinski (General Manager), Sarah Goldberg, Dana Pinto, Tarrah Liebenberg
3rd row, sitting - left to right: Allison Lozoya, Kathleen Angelo, Cristina Beyer
Bottom row, sitting - left to right: Ben Winkleblack, Tracy Spiegelman, Linda Puzziferro, Allison Pruitt, Mayra Magana

In the course of one brief month, Santa Cruz County was rocked by a series of three devastating wildfires, resulting in the evacuation and sheltering of people and their animals. Coordinating with skilled equine evacuation teams and Animal Services staff, Animal Control Officers worked heroically in the face of extreme danger to rescue animals, both large and small, from fire ravaged areas. The compassion and professionalism demonstrated by Animal Services staff was heartwarming not only to the homeowners who were unsure of the fate of their pets and livestock, but to the greater community as stories and images of rescued animals came forward. After animals had been rescued or evacuated, they continued to receive extraordinary care by animal care and client services staff, aided by numerous volunteers, who took in animals at the Shelters, established emergency shelters for evacuated and rescued livestock, and undertook the monumental effort of returning animals to their grateful owners. It is fitting to recognize the outstanding contributions of each and every staff member of the Animal Services Authority for their individual efforts to coordinate such an extraordinary response, resulting in 875 animals being rescued and sheltered.

  SILVER -  Shared by members of the Pleasant Acres Housing Team

Standing, left to right:
Carlos Landaverry
Julie Conway
Patrick Heisinger
Erik Schapiro
Sitting:
Lucia Ruiz-Garcia
Micaela Lopez


The Pleasant Acres Mobile Home Park was once a 65 space dilapidated park owned by an out-of-town owner. For years, park residents, who were primarily low income, had been attempting to engage the property owner in financing much-needed improvements. Unfortunately, they were unable to upgrade their coaches as a result of financial constraints and the limits of the electrical and other infrastructure systems in the park. The acquisition of this mobile home park was actually a byproduct of a larger purchase by the Redevelopment Agency in 2003. However, it presented a challenge to the housing team to develop a plan to upgrade many of the older coaches in exchange for resident agreement to restrict re-sale prices in the future. With the help of an outside non-profit partner, and after a series of extended meetings with all parties, the team developed a novel approach which gave residents an incentive to participate in the re-sale restriction program and also provided a fair way to guarantee that the Agency's funding would not result in dramatic increases in coach values. The result of this outstanding collaboration is a completely renovated mobile home park which benefits current residents, while also providing long-term affordability restrictions that will assist the community for years to come.

  BRONZE -  - Michael Bennett of the Public Works Department

The Live Oak Parking Program was established to ensure adequate parking in neighborhoods near Live Oak beaches through the sale and distribution of parking permits and passes during the spring and summer seasons both for residents and for visitors to the area. Faced with an unexpected long-term staff absence, Public Works asked Michael to step in and run the Live Oak Parking Program this past season. He readily accepted this additional responsibility, sacrificed his weekends, and brought new ideas and many improvements to the program. Michael has also been instrumental in organizing and managing the County's sign inventory program, which provides an inventory of more than 22,000 traffic and roadside signs that are an integral part of the County's traffic safety program. His enthusiasm and dedication to his job have resulted in significant improvements to both of these programs. Michael has been an incredible asset to the County of Santa Cruz and to the Public Works Department, and his efforts merit recognition.