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Annual Awards Banquet Honors Civic Leaders and City Employees

Mar 09, 2016 02:47PM ● By Bryan Scott

By Stacy Nielsen | [email protected]

Sandy - Sandy City held its annual Appreciation Awards Banquet honoring both civic leaders and city employees for their contribution to the city for 2015.

Outgoing Board and Committee Chairs recognized included the following: Monica Collard, Sandy City Planning Commission Chair; Nancy Day, Sandy City Planning Commissioner; Michael Veenendaal, retired Deputy Fire Chief for Sandy City and a National Exchange Club Member for over 10 years; Kay Burton, who has served on the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Advisory Committee for 12 years; and Gordon Johnson, Chairman of Healthy Sandy. 

Additional Outgoing Board and Committee Members recognized including the following: Joseph Baker, member of the Community Development Block Grant Advisory Committee for over 16 years; Gayle Willardson, who served on the Planning Commission for two years before having to resign as a result of relocation; Jean Corey, who served on the Sandy Historic Preservation Committee for 10 years; and RaDean Meyers, who served on the Sandy Historic Preservation Committee for nearly five years.

Perhaps the least expected award of the night, the Sandy Council Employee Recognition Award, was presented to Mearle Marsh, Sandy’s director of community events, in charge of putting the event together. 

“I am honored and extremely grateful for the award. It was a bit of a surprise,” Marsh said. 

Outstanding Legislative Official Recognized: Robert Spendlove, House District 49. Spendlove is currently senior vice president of economic and public policy for Zions Bank.

The Outstanding Local Elected Official was presented by Mayor Tom Dolan to Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams. In 2009, Scott McCoy resigned his seat in the Utah State Senate and in a special election McAdams was elected to fill the balance of the term. He was subsequently elected to a four-year term in November 2010. In 2012, he ran for Salt Lake County Mayor. 

Dolan then awarded Outstanding Organization of the Year to the Sandy Arts Guild. It recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, opened a theater at Mount Jordan, designed an expansion for the seating at the Sandy Amphitheater and was selected as the Best of State for Community Arts Organizations. As an example of how the Guild has grown, the budget for the first Sandy Arts Guild production was $20,000. The Guild budget for this last fiscal year was $1,240,466.

Senior Citizen Volunteer of the Year Award: Robert “Bob” Mueller, who moved to Sandy in 1971 and began volunteering as a football coach in local schools. Since retiring, Bob has led an active lifestyle centered on volunteering in the community, especially at the Sandy Senior Center.  

The Outstanding Volunteer of the Year: In 2010, Linda Snyder called a number on a flyer posted in her gym.  She was responding to a request for volunteers at the Sandy Amphitheater.  

“Since then, she quickly became one of the most dependable and reliable volunteers,” Dolan said. 

The Outstanding Citizen Contribution Award was given to Cyndi Sharkey, Craig Osterloch and Bret Clayton.

“Craig, Cyndi and Bret represent the best of community engagement.  They got out of their comfort zone to speak up about something they felt was best for their entire neighborhood and the larger community.  It takes courage to approach neighbors about potentially controversial topics. Yet Bret, Cyndi, and Craig never waivered in their effort to reach out to as many neighbors as possible,” Dolan said. 

The Outstanding Service Award was given to Shauna Jorgensen. After the 2013 Healing Field event, there was some question whether the event would continue. Jorgensen stepped up and took on the task of putting on the Healing Field in 2014 and 2015.   

A Key to the City was presented to former councilmember Dennis Tenney.

“In ancient times cities were walled citadels with controlled entrances designed to keep the bad guys out.  The ‘Key to the City’ then was an honor bestowed upon leading citizens or visiting dignitaries as a sign kindness, appreciation, admiration and most importantly, trust,” Dolan said. 

The Dick and Pat Adair Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Dan Simons.

Dan is a lifelong resident of Sandy and has always been involved in the community. Over the past few decades, Dan has been working in commercial real estate business. His expertise led him to a position as Sandy’s economic development director where he brought significant attention and business expansion to the “Other Downtown,” a phrase he coined during an advertisement campaign. Now he is the president of Simons-Platt Creations, which is in the process of designing and building a $75 million residential skyscraper in the Cairns District.

The 2015 Sandy Humanitarian Award: “Kip and Ann Wadsworth, Clark and Barbara Stringham, and the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation stepped up to make the dream of a new club building a reality,” Dolan said. “They each provided significant leadership and resources to make sure that the club building could be built.”

Clark Stringham and his wife, Barbara, have been strong supporters of The Sandy Club: A Place for Boys and Girls for decades, serving on the board, providing assistance to committees, donating time and money, networking and reaching out to others to help bring in further assets for the club’s new building currently under construction. 

Former Noal Bateman Award Recipients who were in attendance joined Bruce Steadman to present the 2015 Noal Bateman Long Time City Service Award to LaMar Beckstead.