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Less than four years after being hired as a temporary employee Maureen Frederick has earned Calvert County Government’s highest employee honor. During county government’s annual Employee Service Awards Tuesday, Feb. 5 at Calvert Pines Senior Center, Frederick, who was recently promoted to clerk of the county commissioners, was announced as Calvert County Government’s Employee of the Year for 2012.

The selection was made by the Employee Recognition Committee (ERC). The group selects the honoree from the 12 individuals who are named Employee of the Month. Last year, Frederick was selected as April’s top employee, an honor she received in March. The ERC selected Frederick for the honor for doing her supervisor’s job—in addition to her own job—for 16 weeks.

“I love my job, I love working with all of you,” Frederick told her assembled coworkers.

The Employee Service Awards honors the county government workforce members who have reached milestones in their careers. This year the ERC and Calvert County Commissioners saluted 59 five-year employees, 43 10-year employees, 12 15-year employees, 11 with 20 years of service, 15 who have worked for 25 years, six 30-year employees and one employee who has logged 35 years of service.

The 35-year honoree, Francis Jones of the Department of Public Works, didn’t indicate he was ready to stop or even slow down. “It was a very long road,” said Jones, who started working at the county landfill when he was a teenager. “I want to thank the county for all these years. Maybe I’ll put in another 20 years.” Jones also thanked his wife, mother and two children who attended the ceremony.

Mark Willis, the event’s emcee, had plenty of anecdotes to share about the 25 and 30-year award recipients.

One award recipient, 25-year veteran Oliver Smith, simply said, “let the work that I do speak for itself.”

In addition to Smith, the 25-year recipients were: Violet Brooks, Andrew Brown III, Roger Buck, Patricia Chew, James Cross, Barbara Gross, Linda Hofmann, Nevelin Mackall, Melissa Miller, Deborah Root, Terry Shannon, Rebecca Wathen, James Wood Jr. and Genevieve Zengraft

The 30-year award recipients were: Roberta Baker, Clarice Fletcher, Victor Wilson Freeland, Richard Robinson, Joseph Sutton Jr. and Jackie Vaughan.

Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com