Eight Paratransit Services Employees Receive President’s Merit Award
Truckee, San Andreas, Lower Lake, and Red Bluff, California; Bremerton, Washington – October, November 2021. Paratransit Services’ President’s Merit Award is conferred annually to acknowledge one or more Paratransit Services employees for outstanding individual performance and for making important contributions to the company's success. Eight employees were selected for the 2020 Award, which was presented to them by Paratransit Services President/CEO David Baker. Recipients based in northern California were presented with their awards virtually, via Zoom, in October. The two Bremerton-based recipients were presented with their awards at the NEMT call center in November.
Robert Benedict was nominated for a President’s Award by Ron Leal, the company’s General Manager in Truckee, California. Robert is Operation Supervisor for Tahoe Truckee Area Regional Transit (TART), the public transit system serving the greater Truckee-North Lake Tahoe area. Initially hired as a driver, he made an immediate and positive impact on staff and ridership alike. Robert was promoted to the position of Operation Supervisor, and has done exemplary work in the new position.
Dean Hunt was nominated for the President’s award by Paratransit Services Calaveras Connect General manager Cynthia Lawrence. Dean has an excellent record for customer service and safety. In nominating Dean, Ms. Lawrence noted that the COVID pandemic necessitated adjustments to the existing service model and the addition of new services. The outreach efforts of Mr. Hunt contributed greatly to the success of the new services, as the Grocery Delivery Program with Calaveras Grown, and the new Dial-A-Ride service in the West Point area, have both flourished thanks in no small part to his efforts.
In nominating Road Supervisor/Trainers Samuel Gaytan and Patrick Teahan, Paratransit Services Lake Transit General Manager Gary McFarland also noted the operational obstacles present in 2020. He praised the manner in which Samuel and Patrick responded to the adversity, by providing leadership, improvising in the face of changing conditions, setting the example for the rest of the staff to follow, and promoting the sense that “we are in this together and together we will get through this.”
Two of our 2020 President’s Award recipients work at our Red Bluff location in northern California. They were nominated for the Award by Red Bluff General Manager Sharon Young. David Guilford, a driver for the ParaTRAX demand response service, also fills-in on a trolley route or one of the fixed routes when needed. Ricardo “Rick” Garcia is a Facility Maintenance person, and demonstrates an exceptional work ethic.
The final two recipients of the 2020 President's Award are part of our Washington State Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) Call Center staff. They were nominated by NEMT Call Center General Manager Ann Kennedy. Dave Gleffe fills several important positions as part of the NEMT team. He is responsible for our work with the Washington State Disability Determination Services (DDS) and the Children's Hospital/UW Medical verification process. He also takes care of additional call center tasks, and he mentors newer CSRs during their training phase. Amy Renteria, a veteran of 20 years in the NEMT Call Center, has also filled many different posts there. A former CSR, earlier this year Amy moved to the billing department, where she is a Billing Specialist.