Four Collierville Public Service employees traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the annual Tennessee Chapter of the American Public Works Association (TCAPWA) and Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) Conference. 

The conference brings together professionals in the public works field from across the state of Tennessee for professional development, networking, and a little competition with the Equipment Rodeo. The rodeo is an opportunity for heavy equipment operators to show off their finesse and compete against neighboring communities.

Three Town employees in attendance –– Clay Ticer, Josh Russell, and John Fox –– were nominated for State Public Works awards and Justin Wilburn competed in the Equipment Rodeo. The conference gave out only nine awards to recognize outstanding achievements, and Collierville brought home two of those awards. 

Clay Ticer, Assistant Division Manager of the Streets and Drainage Division, won the TCAPWA Award of Merit. This award recognizes the dedicated service of the Public Works or related agency personnel at the operations level who perform their responsibilities in an exceptionally efficient and courteous manner. Ticer has worked for the Town for 19 years, starting as a Maintenance Worker in the Parks Department and later transferring to Public Services where he continued to climb the ranks in various roles. 

Today, he manages 26 employees, where they maintain over 700 lane miles of streets, 90 miles of drainage ways, and hundreds of miles of ditches and drainage-ways. He’s also a founding member of the Public Services Safety Committee and is heavily involved in the Town’s special events coordination.

John Fox, Public Works Operations Manager, won the TCAPWA Roger Clark Award. This award recognizes the Tennessee chapter’s nominee for APWA’s Special Service Award for dedication and service. The late Roger Clark was the Director of Public Works in Kingsport, Tennessee and a well-respected professional in the field. 

Fox has worked for the Town for 13 years and manages the Public Works Division of Public Services, which includes 70 employees. He’s been very active in the Tennessee chapter of APWA and has served as the West Tennessee Director and Vice President. Currently, Fox is the President-elect of the TCAPWA, and will become the President at the 2020 conference.

As President-elect, Fox will be coordinating the 2020 TCAPWA / SWANA Conference which will be held in Memphis, Tennessee. He is looking forward to the conference being closer to home so more Collierville Public Services employees can take advantage of the professional development opportunities and compete in the Equipment Rodeo.  

“I am honored to share the recognition of our exceptional Public Service employees,” said Bill Kilp, Director of Public Services. “Clay and John have exceeded expectations in their work for Collierville and in the entire public works field.” We thank these Public Service employees that were such wonderful representatives of our Town!