Hanford recognizes Employees of the Year

Mar. 5—HANFORD — The city of Hanford recognized three Employees of the Year Tuesday evening during the Hanford City Council meeting.

General Employee of the Year — Rosa Contreras

Contreras is the main point of contact for financial transactions, customer service and all administrative duties for the Parks and Community Services Department.

Contreras started working with the city as a part-time clerical support employee for the administration department in 2014. The next year she was promoted to a full-time administrative support technician in the Community Development Department and later transferred to Parks and Community Services in 2017.

City Manager Mario Cifuentez said Contreras excels at providing internal and external customer service and takes pride in her work. He said she is willing to do whatever it takes to represent the city of and her department well.

"Her friendly can-do attitude and willingness to work extra hours and offer assistance to others within the city is greatly appreciated by all who work with her," Cifuentez said.

Contreras said she couldn't do such a great job without the supervisors and her department director, Brad Albert.

"I love the department I work for and without them I wouldn't be able to be here," she said. "I really appreciate everybody's help and in getting me where I'm at."

Management Employee of the Year — Bob Williams

Williams started working for the city in 2007 as a utilities maintenance worker in the Public Works Department. He was promoted to utilities lead worker in 2010 and in 2013 was promoted once again to utilities supervisor. As of 2020, he serves as the utilities superintendent.

Cifuentez said Williams is a huge asset to the Public Works Department and has recently completed two projects in his division, including the Well No. 50 arsenic treatment program and the automated meter reading program. He said Williams always represents the city professionally with the citizens and his fellow employees by explaining city processes and quickly resolving issues the citizens may be experiencing.

"His take-charge attitude and commitment to his staff has shown that he can achieve great things and excel at completing any task that his division is assigned," Cifuentez said.

"Everything I have is because of guys that work for me and that I work for, because without them I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything," Williams said Tuesday.

Safety Employee of the Year — Officer Chad Medeiros and his K-9 partner, Nico

Cifuentez said Medeiros is a leader on his shift and constantly has a high level of self-initiated activity, arrests and citations issued.

Aside from being proactive and keeping our community safe, Cifuentez said Medeiros is just as eager to help his fellow police officers and makes himself available to help not only to the Hanford Police Department, but other law enforcement agencies.

Medeiros started working for the city as a police officer in 2016. In July 2019, he was assigned his K-9 partner, Nico, and remains the most senior K-9 handler at the department

Since January 2020, Cifuentez said Medeiros has been a mentor to at least three newly-hired police officers and has also logged 171 specific K-9 incidents — which he said exceeds the average number for a K-9 officer.

"Over the past year, Chad has performed admirably as a K-9 officer and field training officer," Cifuentez said.

Since being assigned to the K-9 division, Cifuentez said Medeiros has taken a leadership role and prioritized learning as much as he can to perfect his K-9 handler abilities. He said Medeiros is in constant communication with the other K-9 handlers throughout Kings County to obtain additional knowledge to implement at the department.

Cifuentez thanked all of the Employees of the Year for their exemplary service to the city of Hanford and said the city is proud and grateful to have them as members of the organization.

The city is set to hold a to-go appreciation luncheon for the employees on March 11 at Civic Park.

The reporter can be reached at julissazavala@hanfordsentinel.com