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The Tennessee Chapter American Public Works Association awarded one of Kingsport’s public works employees the 2018 Murphy Snoderly Award. Kirby Walker, a long-time employee of the Kingsport Water Department, accepted the award in Knoxville.
Walker, a lab technician, was nominated for his dedication to positive public outreach. In the decade that he’s been with public works, Walker has proven not only his desire to learn, but an eagerness to share that knowledge with others through outreach programs.
“Not many people know just how much work goes into maintaining a city,” said Assistant City Manager of Operations Ryan McReynolds. “Kirby’s mission is to teach children about the behind-the-scenes activity in Kingsport—and to get them excited about it, so that they might one day decide to become a public works employee, too.”
After the water department recently eliminated public tours due to safety concerns, Walker stepped in to fill the void. Last November, he visited Kingsport City Schools’ fourth grade career fair to teach the children about the process of how water makes it from the river into people’s homes. He brought photos, displays and gifts so the children would remember what they learned.
Since then, Walker has been visiting schools regularly. While school tours of the water department would annually bring in about 150 children, Walker’s presentations over this school year reached more than 2,000 children.
“Kids need to understand the importance of safe, reliable drinking water. They need to learn at an early age to protect our water environment – creeks, rivers, lakes, ocean – and the importance of putting it back as clean as you found it because someone downstream needs it,” Walker explained.
The award’s namesake, Murphy Snoderly, was an engineering and public works consultant for the University of Tennessee Municipal Technical Advisory Service. He believed that the “working people,” who perform tasks like garbage pickup or pothole repair and without whom a city could not function properly, should be recognized for all that they do. Only operations level employees—working people—are eligible for the Murphy Snoderly Award.
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June is a great time to get out on the trails at Bays Mountain, and with two mountain biking events around the corner, there is something for every type of rider this month!
Whether getting in a good workout on an old service road or challenging one’s self on a single track trail, Bays Mountain Park offers 32 miles of trails that provide fun and adventure for mountain bikers of all skill levels. This month’s mountain biking events at BMP are Bike at Bays and the Aiyana XC Mountain Bike Race.
- Bike at Bays (Saturday, June 23) – This year marks the 10th Anniversary Bike at Bays event at Bays Mountain Park. Hosted by SORBA, the event will be held on Saturday, June 23, from 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. This event is filled with educational and maintenance seminars, bike demos by vendors, group rides and plenty of fun. For more information, visit sorba-tricities.org. Free admission for attendees.
- Aiyana XC Mountain Bike Race (Sunday, June 24) – This mountain bike race is a USA Cycling sanctioned event held at Bays Mountain Park & Planetarium for the past 3 years. The race takes place on Sunday, June 24, and is open to all levels from beginner to advanced. Registration is available online at aiyanaxc.wordpress.com. All bikes must be mountain worthy for safety. Please have all bikes checked and registered at the Nature Center gift shop. Registration available online at https://aiyanaxc.wordpress.com/race-registration/
New this month, Bays Mountain Park has mountain biking sticker decals for sale at the gift shop. Get yours, and spread the word about mountain biking at Bays!
For more information on Bays Mountain, please visit baysmountain.com or call 423-229-9447.
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