Roanoke Rapids City Council and department heads honored several employees for their years of service with pins and certificates.

The awards were given during this evening’s council work session.

(The entire set of photos may be found on our Facebook page)

The fire department honored Matt Glenn and Joe Shaw for five years of service and Wes Hux and Jason Patrick for 15 years of service.

The parks and recreation department honored librarian Jeff Watson for five years of service.

Five-year pins and certificates were given to police department employees Chris Babb, Tommy Hathaway and Barbara Leake while 10-year pins were given to Terrence Tyler, Mike Moseley and Chris Woodruff.

Public works presented a 20-year pin to Walter Johnson. Several other employees could not be at the awards service.

Those not present were Linwood Bowser for 10 years; Edward Brown and Sterling Clark for 15 years and James Mallory Sr. for 20 years.

City Manager Joseph Scherer commended the Benevolent Awards and Recognition Committee for its work on tonight’s ceremony, which began with a social before the meeting.

In other matters tonight:

Scherer said Finance Director MeLinda Hite found $7,000 in savings when renewing the city’s cell phone plan with U.S. Cellular.

Scherer also said the county E-911 board has approached municipalities in the county about changing its funding strategies for the service. Scherer did not have full details of the plan but a meeting is set for February 20 where the plan will be discussed in detail.

Public Works Director Larry Chalker said the city has found a new leaf site, a 14-acre parcel of land off Sam Powell Dairy Road near the end of the old airport runway. The county must hold a conditional use permit hearing about the site, Chalker said.