Page 17 - July August 2017 Vol 35 No 2

KNOXVILLE By Molly Gilbert

Welch Wins Murphy Snoderly Award

The City of Knoxville Public Works Left to right: Mark Wagner, City of Knoxville Horticulture Manager, and Greg Ladd, Foreman, accompanied
Department announced that David Welch David Welch to the awards ceremony. Manny Belen, TCAPWA President, presented the award.
has been awarded the Murphy Snoderly
Award by TCAPWA at the TML Annual installs hardscaping pavers. tions without complaining and is liked by
Conference Awards Breakfast, June 13, in “It is my expressed honor and privilege everyone.
Murfreesboro.
to nominate David Welch for the 2017 Welch is dedicated to his service to the
Welch began working for the City of Murphy Snoderly Award,” said Sheryl Ely, community and is a reliable employee. He
Knoxville on September 19, 1974, and Deputy Director of Public Works for the has set the standard for others to follow. He
has been an outstanding employee with City of Knoxville. She said peers and su- takes a great deal of pride in the beautifica-
the Horticulture Services Division of the pervisors always comment on how Welch tion and maintenance of his assigned areas.
Public Service Department for the City of maintains parks and green spaces to the
Knoxville over 42 years. Over his entire highest standards. He is a dependable em- Each year, the award recipient is selected
career, Welch has held the title of Public ployee who has often volunteered to work from a slate of statewide candidates and
Service Worker I and II; he operated a vari- overtime. He works in all weather condi- is considered the state’s most outstanding
ety of hand and power tools, from a sickle non-administrative Public Works employee.
to a chainsaw. Welch maintains dozens of
parks, recreation centers, greenway trails,
alleys and right-of-ways. As a grounds
maintenance employee, he mows, trims,
weed eats, prunes trees, clears brush, picks
up litter, plants grass seed/straw, lays sod,
waters, plants, pulls weeds in landscaping
beds, cleans up leaves, loads and unloads
trucks, prunes shrubs, maintains equip-
ment, applies fertilizer and weed control,
shovels mulch, soil, sand and gravel and

16 TPW July/August 2017