CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Employees are being honored for up to 55 years of public service and the dedication they have to their jobs in the Mountain State.
Gov. Jim Justice appointed Deputy Chief of Staff, Ann Urling to recognize state employees who have served for at least 30 years or longer with certificates for their years of work during the Governor’s Public Service Recognition Ceremony Wednesday.
Hosted annually by the Department of Arts, Culture, and History at the State Culture Center, Curator for the department, Randall Reid-Smith said those worker’s services deserve some recognition.
“These are the people who run our state, and they dedicate and they are passionate about the jobs that they do, and they are very much service-oriented people,” Reid-Smith said.
Reading from Justice’s address, Urling announced the ceremony comes in conjunction with Public Service Recognition Week, which has been set aside to honor those employees on a federal, state, county and local level every first full week of May since 1985.
Justice specifically pointed out the healthcare workers in his address, and all of those who continued working during Covid.
“During the pandemic, you as a public servant continued to do your jobs quietly, effectively, including serving the frontlines in the battle against the Corona Virus,” Urling read. “Many of our healthcare professionals and our state hospitals courageously and selflessly cared for the Covid-19 patients.”
He also gave special recognition to the first responders, law enforcement, the National Guard and others who serve and protect the people.
“You dedicated individuals risk your health and sometimes your lives to serve people across our state, including our children, our seniors, and many of our most vulnerable members of our state,” Justice stated.
Justice went on to address that it’s important the state continues to attract and retain public employees.
Wednesday’s event was meant to recognize anyone who has served the state for those years, including employees in education, highways, commerce, economic development, among other positions. The state employee landscape is currently comprised of a total of 1,397 workers.
Reid-Smith told MetroNews Wednesday the Arts, Culture, and History Department is comprised of about 225 people, which is a smaller department but one that displays much passion for the work they do alone.
“Just to see their passion for the job and their dedication to working for the state, and we need to be grateful for that and we certainly need to recognize it,” he said.
Reid-Smith went on to say he often sees people jump from job to job frequently, typically in younger generations of workers, and for someone to stay at one job for at least 20 years is quite the achievement.
“It is very unique that you see that, this younger generation, they change jobs a lot but these people have just been dedicated, giving their life to this job and to the state, I think it’s something to be very admired,” said Reid-Smith.
Gov. Justice’s cabinet was also expected to recognize one employee from each state department with a “shining star” award, which is given to employees who don’t yet have 20 years of work in but show effort and potential.