Our City has over a 1,000 employees who provide a wide range of services that most of us take for granted.
While we are busy with our own work, raising families, PTA meetings, church and after school activities, our City employees contribute quietly and effectively to our community.
Our own power company headed by John Roukema is a godsend. Silicon Valley Power keeps our homes and businesses supplied with power to heat, cool and light and allows us to enjoy the benefits of low cost energy.
Our police department, led by Chief Mike Sellers, is one of the best police units in the state with one of the lowest crime rates in the country. Sellers and his department have received wide recognition from law enforcement agencies throughout the state.
Our fire department, headed up by Chief Bill Kelly, has an incredible record of response time and a great safety rating. They respond to thousands of residents’ calls every year ranging from stroke victims, to heart attacks, to actual fires. This is in addition to the annual inspections of virtually every occupied facility in the City.
Inside City Hall, our interim City Manager Rajeev Batra and his staff are dealing with hundreds of contracts, personel and staffing issues on a daily basis.
In the City Clerk’s office, Rod Diridon Jr. directs the mountain of reports, election data, Council records and filings required to keep us informed and the City records up to date.
And the list goes on by the dozens of high-profile leaders of our City work force. Acting City Attorney Brian Doyle keeps us legal. Acting Director of Finance Angela Kraetsch is impeccable in her financial analysis and budgeting.
When you think about the many staff members and departments you begin to realize the value these employees provide for our City.
Some of these giants of good administration don’t receive a lot of recognition. There is our City Librarian Hilary Keith, our Parks and Rec Director Jim Teixeira, our Acting Director of Water and Sewer Gary Welling, Planning Director Andrew Crabtree, Director of Public Works Alan Kuratori, and their staff who all work together in providing quality services for us.
Behind the scenes are Elizabeth Brown, who directs Human Resources, and Gaurav Garg, who keeps our City website running and handles all the technology issues.
Next time you are at City Hall, just walk up to a City employee and say “thank you.” Thank you for being here, thank you for your work and thank you for your contribution to our community.
Our City staff is amazing and the recognition they receive is minimal. We just thought it was time to say our thank you to the many and apologies to the hundreds not listed by name.
Yes it’s true, these City employees work for us, the residents and taxpayers of Santa Clara. And every now and then, it is a wonderful thing when the “boss” says thank you.
