Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Stewart Welch
Stewart Welch
Can one person really make a difference in a community?
For approximately 300 residents at last month’s annual Mountain Brook Chamber awards luncheon, the answer was yes.
What did these winners have in common? Intention, passion and relentless determination.
Nim Long received our city’s highest and most prestigious award, the Jemison Award. Nim is one of those rare people with a talent for big-vision thinking backed by the skills and determination to see that vision become a reality. Nim, perhaps more than any other single person, has been responsible for changing the “look and feel” of our city.
More than 30 years ago, he developed a master plan for our sidewalk system, then figured out how to get more than $15 million in federal matching funds. He and his talented team of landscape architects designed virtually all our parks.
In the 1990s, he reimagined our villages with widened sidewalks, vintage lighting, sidewalk trees, expanded parking and designated employee parking. Recently, he led the design and fundraising for a $4-million-plus renovation of Jemison Park. Intention, passion, relentless determination.
Dana Hazen, our Co-Employee of the Year winner, is director of planning, building and sustainability and has been with the city for 16 years. A consummate professional, Dana loves her job, but her true passion is environmental sustainability. This past year, she spent untold “extra” hours making Mountain Brook the first city in Alabama to become an official Bee City USA city. Add this to her efforts with Tree City USA, the Monarch Pledge and the American Green Zone Alliance certification, Dana is a remarkable person who has accomplished so much for our city. Intension, passion, relentless determination.
Johnny Franklin, our other Co-Employee of the Year, is the supervisor of public works and manages the teams that keep our city clean and sharp-looking. Johnny, a 26-year employee, is the person who organizes the mass responses when we have a storm come through our city. We have had as many as 80 trees down, and Johnny and his crews have been known to work 24 hours straight to clear roads. Intention, passion, relentless determination.
Our entire fire department received the O’Neal Library’s William Tynes Award.
In a tearful video, Library Director Lindsy Gardner, thanked our fire department for immediately and professionally responding when a water pipe burst and flooded the library. They continued to lead throughout the cleanup and restoration process.
Chief Mullins’s response was, “This is what we train to do every day, … just another day at the office! Our guys are here because they have a servant’s heart.” Intention, passion, relentless determination.
Hearing their stories, I wonder, “Is there a lesson for each of us?”
