Congratulations to Tom Steiger!

The City of Tualatin has over 150 employees who work diligently to keep the city running smoothly. Each year the City's Employee of the Year Program recognizes employees for work and actions, which bring credit to the City and improve our ability to deliver excellent service to our customers. The annual award is presented to the employee who best demonstrates at least one or more of the City Manager’s seven values: 

• Non Bureaucratic 
• Customer service expert  
• Teamwork & Respect  
• Empowerment  
• One City  
• Problem Solving  

The City is excited to announce that Tom Steiger, the Parks and Recreation Maintenance Manager, is this year’s recipient and he certainly demonstrates all of these values. If you have had the pleasure of conducting business with Tom, you know firsthand that he is a courteous, innovative, and positive city ambassador who always goes the extra mile to assist the public. On a regular basis, Tom and his crew of six; plus summer seasonal staff, are responsible for the care, upkeep, and maintenance of Tualatin’s parks, trails, and green spaces totaling over 300 acres. Tom runs the street tree program; he and his crew also assist with volunteer plantings and provide support for the City’s special events. Under Tom’s leadership, the Parks Maintenance team provides many services that help make Tualatin a wonderful community.   

2021 began with big challenges. While the world was in the midst of a pandemic, Tualatin was hit with an unprecedented ice storm in February. Thanks to Tom’s initiative, problem solving skills, and vast experience he was able to take the lead and help the City tackle many of the problems caused by the 2021 ice storm. Including things like clearing roadways, cleaning up downed trees, and collecting 16,000 cubic yards of loose brush (that is enough to fill about 1,000 dump trucks!).  

Below are a few highlights of what fellow employees have to said about Tom:  

“Tom has consistently demonstrated his commitment and dedication to the City of Tualatin. Tom responded to the City-wide devastation from the ice storm over many weeks and months. Tom jumped into action and took the lead to remove the countless damaged trees and limbs around the city. Tom went beyond in his response. Showing his ability to take the initiative to ensure inter-departmental communication and cooperation throughout it all.” 

“The February ice storm was not just a 2 or 3 week event for Tom or for Volunteer Services. The debris and tree clean up continued into the summer with volunteers manning tents at debris drop sites to TUHS Upward Bound students, TEAM Tualatin and corporate volunteers cleaning up debris all summer. Tom empowered his staff to communicate with Volunteer Services and request projects. Tom also modeled excellent customer service and going the extra mile to respond to citizen questions and requests, with many due to the extensive tree damage to street trees and green spaces and parks.” 

“Tom is proud to work for the City of Tualatin and is grateful for this recognition, but stresses he could not do it alone: “The recognition from the ice storm cleanup was truly an effort of 30 people on most days in the first few weeks... I just happened to be the lucky one who had knowledge and resources available in the tree care industry and found myself in a lead role.” Tom would also like to share credit with his entire maintenance team for their daily efforts: “On day-to-day operations I will also share credit with a staff who is well trained, professional, and responsive to a wide variety of resident requests for service. From Park Maintenance to street trees to community event support to environmental programs, we cover a lot of ground!” 

The City is lucky to have an employee like Tom! If you see him around town, be sure to congratulate him on a job well done.