Josh Wuebker, assistant director of the Perry Public Works Department, informed the Perry City Council at its last meeting that Perry’s city workers will be recognized and rewarded this week for their success in reducing workplace injuries with a Safety and Employee Appreciation Day banquet.
The third annual awards event take place Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Perry Volunteer Fire Department, 908 Willis Ave., Wuebker said.
Numerous certificates of achievement will be awarded to city workers at the gathering, including a certificate of appreciation to Randy Tarlton for his 40 years of service as manager of the Perry Municipal Airport.
Other Perry employees to be honored include three longtime Perry Water Works figures: Dan Ruggle for 30 years with the city water utility, Jeff Hix for 20 years and Pam Ballard for 15 years.
Bill Annear will be thanked for 20 years of service in the Perry Garbage Department and Perry Police Department Officer Wayne Schuttler for 20 years on the city’s law enforcement staff.
The Safety and Employee Appreciation Day will also included a number of workshops and lectures on workplace safety and risk avoidance, tempering the festive mood of the day with the awareness that job safety is an ongoing effort and never a completed task.
The City of Perry has significantly lowered the rate of on-the-job injuries to its employees over the last nine years. The city now pays less than half what it was paying in 2006, when the city was threatened with loss of coverage.
“We continually work to advance the cause of safety among city workers,” Wuebker said, “and our success deserves recognition.”
In 2013 the Perry City Council gave $1,000 to the safety committee to hold the first Safety and Employee Appreciation Day in recognition of the steep drop in accidents and insurance premiums.
Jeff Hovey, director of risk services for the Iowa Municipalities Workers’ Compensation Association (IMWCA), which underwrites cities’ workers’ compensation insurance, said the IMWCA uses Perry as an example of a remarkable turnaround from high to low injury rates.
“Where you’re at is the result of hard, continuous effort,” Hovey said, “and it’s seen in the significant drop in premiums from last year to this.”
Representatives of all the city’s departments will be on hand for the third annual Employee Appreciation banquet.
