Mesa recognizes three employees who have gone above and beyond their duties to help residents or businesses. The Exceptional Customer Service Awards were presented during the City's quarterly mid-managers meeting. City manager Chris Brady surprised Brett Burton, Freddy Hernandez, and Clinton "Zach" Howard with the Exceptional Customer Service awards.
"Our Exceptional Customer Service awards allow us to recognize and celebrate the creativity, initiative and dedication of employees that go the extra mile," said Mesa City Manager Chris Brady. "It is an honor to lead an organization that values and instills excellence. These three gentlemen represent the Mesa way of serving and caring for one another."
Here is a brief description of our fall recipients' achievements.
Brett Burton
Brett started a unique interdepartmental collaboration to help individuals experiencing homelessness. It began by inviting Mesa housing staff to educate park rangers on the available resources and encouraging his peers to carry a resource list in their vehicles to share with unhoused residents they met at the parks. A couple of weeks later, housing received a call from Brett about the Veterans Housing Voucher program for someone he had met.
When Mesa opened the Housing Choice Voucher Program wait list in August, Brett encouraged other park rangers to assist individuals in filling out applications on their vehicle computers. He empowered his peers to help the Mesa homeless population find stable housing.
Freddy Hernandez
Freddy Hernandez is the only Housing Inspector for 1,888 families or individuals receiving housing assistance in Mesa. He ensures that subsidized units are decent, safe, and sanitary and negotiates with landlords reasonable rent increases.
As rent prices have soared in the past couple of years, Freddy has gone above and beyond negotiating rent amounts with landlords, convincing them that a reasonable increase shouldn't exceed $100 annually. Freddy's professionalism, positive attitude, and persistence resulted in savings of nearly $35,000 for Mesa's Housing Authority.
Clinton "Zach" Howard
On October 18, 2022, Zach observed a plane crash in the nearby canal while working at Gene Autry Park. Without hesitation, Zach immediately called 911 and headed to the scene of the crash to help the pilot exit the aircraft. Zach was able to direct the medical team to the location for the observation and treatment of the pilot. His selfless act to help in a dangerous situation saved the pilot from a potentially life-threatening situation.