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High Point awards given for outstanding service to Summit County
RICHARD WEINER
Legal News Reporter
Published: June 9, 2015
Summit County Executive Russell M. Pry presided over a celebration of service to the county, as the annual High Point Awards ceremony took place on May 20, 2015. The ceremony was attended by more than 200 county employees and their families.
“The High Point Awards are our employee recognition day,” said Pry. “And, while today we recognize some employees, I can assure you that all of us feel very blessed and fortunate to have such a good working staff. So congratulations to all of you.”
A High Point award is given essentially as an “employee of the year” recognition for each of the various departments of the county. Those relating to the courts included the Clerk of Courts office, the Prosecutor’s office, and domestic and juvenile courts.
The domestic relations court award recipient was LaNettra Davis, who has worked at the court for eight years.
Summit County Clerk of Court Daniel M. Horrigan gave High Point awards to three people—Rana Matar, Carla Peters, and Nancy Weiner. The first two recipients work in the clerk’s office in downtown Akron, and the third works for the clerk’s title division.
While noting that there may be no way to describe a “perfect employee,” Horrigan said that, “these three are as close to that as you can get.”
Horrigan said that Matar, “was one of my first hires in 2008. She is known for taking a problem and owning it, and then fixing it.”
Peters was hired in to the clerk’s office in 2012, said Horrigan. He said that she personifies his efforts to cross-train employees to be able to perform as many job functions as possible. Horrigan said that Peters was “frequently self-learned,” as she “assumed a lot of our accounting functions.”
Weiner received her High Point award as the representative of the title division. She has worked for the clerk’s office since 2005, all in the title division.
Horrigan said that Weiner, who is stationed at the Tallmadge Road office, “travels selflessly” to the other title offices whenever she is asked to. In fact, she just completed a nearly three-month stay at the Northfield office.
He added that she, “embodies the one thing that is most important to the office—customer service. She has a great personality and smile, and handles problems with an easy demeanor.”
Summit County Assistant Prosecutor Brad Gessner presented the awards for his office, which went to Colleen Sims, assistant prosecutor in the civil division, Annie Spitali, child support supervisor and Heaven Guest, appellate prosecutor.
Gessner said that Spitali began her career in the prosecutor’s office in 1996, answering the phone in the child support office, and rose through the ranks of that division, becoming supervisor in 2014, after spending time with CSEA. She is currently in charge of the back office functions of that office.
Guest came to the prosecutor’s office in 2003, and is one of two appellate attorneys working there. He noted her, “smile and positive attitude. She is always the first to assist anyone who needs it. She is one of the office’s most valuable employees.”
Sims actually had to be called away from a trial to attend the ceremony, said Gessner. Among other cases that she has handled for the office, she was the lead in the successful prosecution against David Willan in the Evergreen Homes case.
Sims started in the juvenile division in 2001, working through departments until landing in the civil division in 2013, Gessner said. She represents, “many county offices and agencies, and, in particular, the Sheriff’s Department.”
The ceremony also included the Cliff Skeen Lifetime Achievement Award, which has been given at the High Point award ceremony for the last 24 years, and which Pry said was dedicated to honor a private citizen who had dedicated time to the community.
The 2015 Cliff Skeen award went to Ophelia Averett, longtime head of the Summit County NAACP, who recently retired from that position.
That award, Pry said, was, “about the easiest decision that we ever had to make,” in giving the Skeen award.
Other High Point awards that were not related with the courts were given from the Sheriff’s department, the County itself, the Fiscal Office, and the Engineer’s office.