Title
To honor and recognize Gary L. Harrison on the occasion of his retirement from the City of Columbus after 26 years of faithful, hardworking and dedicated service at the Jackson Pike Wastewater Treatment Plant, a component of the Division of Sewerage and Drainage.
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WHEREAS, Gary began his career at Jackson Pike in July of 1979, after a two-year tour in the United States Army - during that time he served in many roles, starting as a Typist Clerk II and ending as Inventory Control and Property Manager in custody of over $5,000,000 in inventory; and
WHEREAS, an extremely flexible individual, Gary initially made the conversion to the area of storekeeping due to the plant's storekeeper suffering a heart attack; and
WHEREAS, Gary performed the new duties in addition to his administrative duties spending 4 hours a day in the Administration Building and 4 hours in the Maintenance Building until being assigned as a Storekeeper II on a provisional basis; and
WHEREAS, after almost five years, and a promotion to Storekeeper III, Gary was required to take the Civil Service exam to keep the job he had been dutifully performing; and
WHEREAS, he passed the civil service exam , retained his job, and has since undergone many changes, both physically and administratively; and
WHEREAS, during the late 1990's the Plant's management felt the vast inventory needed to maintain a plant that kept aging machinery running side-by-side with the latest technology warranted more than a Storekeeper III to keep up with the workload; and
WHEREAS, Gary took, and passed, the test for Office Manager and was promoted to the new position; and
WHEREAS, a little over a year later the position was again audited by Civil Service who found the job duties more accurately fell under the position of Inventory Control and Property Manager; and
WHEREAS, once more Gary found himself proving his qualifications for the job he already held and was selected for the position he now holds; and
WHEREAS, ever a team player, Gary Harrison has been selected twice as the Division's Employee of the Month and once as the Division's Employee of the Quarter - he has long been a key player in providing background data and advice to the Plant's Management Team efforts to construct rough budget submissions annually; and
WHEREAS, Gary's tracking of open fund balances and expenditures has been instrumental in determining realistic, verifiable, and non-inflationary, budget submissions; and
WHEREAS, outside of the Division, Gary has been featured in the EBOCO (Equal Business Opportunity Commission Office)newsletter for his outstanding assistance to potential vendors regarding the requirements and paperwork necessary to do business with the City of Columbus; and
WHEREAS, Gary Harrison has long been regarded as a resident expert in the "Performance" purchasing system and the "go-to" guy in ensuring that the plant has everything it needs to sustain a high-quality operation with minimal down-time; and
WHEREAS, Gary will be greatly missed; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
That it hereby honors and recognizes Gary L. Harrison on the occasion of his retirement from the City of Columbus after 26 years of faithful, hardworking and dedicated service at the Jackson Pike Wastewater Treatment Plant, a component of the Division of Sewerage and Drainage.