Monday evening Mayor Mark Senter surprised one of his department heads with an awards presentation.
The mayor introduced Craig Williams, Vice-President of the Indiana Water Environment Association (IWEA).
Williams was there to present an award to, as he said it, “an exceptional member of the IWEA.” During his presentation he said, “Around this time last year I was asked by the IWEA board to follow up on a nomination our national organization, the Water Environment Federation for their Hatfield Award.” He said the award is in honor of William B Hatfield, former superintendent of the Decatur, IL Sanitary District. The award recognizes an operator for outstanding service in the field of wastewater treatment through exceptional operation of maintenance, business like accounting, employee development and public education and outreach.
Williams said, “I reached out to a number of folks who knew the nominee and it became immediately obvious that this nomination was well placed.” Speaking with employees they told him their supervisor encouraged employees to excel in their education and certifications and listens when employees offer suggestions to make their work safer and more productive. Williams continued, “I heard from city leaders who described the nominee as a leader who is committed to making sure the utility customers were taken care of and the improvements to the utility provided the best value to the city.”
Engineers and contractors described the city department head as a “gold standard in project management through his proactive leadership and decisive action.”
The 2020 William B Hatfield award to Donnie Davidson, the City of Plymouth’s Utility Superintendent.
Davidson was short on words but did say, “I’m somewhat embarrassed by this. I feel like this is a utility award. There are a lot of people I work with day in and day out that really work hard with very little recognition. For me to receive this, I consider this a City of Plymouth Utility award, so all their hard work, I’d like recognize that.”
