Town employees are honored in Portsmouth

PORTSMOUTH — Three town employees were singled out for their excellent service by the Town Council Tuesday night.

The council named two recipients of the inaugural Employee of the Year Award for 2016-2017: Fung Y. Chan of the Finance Department and Officer Lee G. Trott of the Portsmouth Police Department.

Council President Keith Hamilton said Ms. Chan did an outstanding job of filling in the gaps during a period in which the town lost one finance director and appointed an interim manager before current Finance Director John Menke was hired.

“Fung did a great job managing the transition between three different finance directors,” Mr. Hamilton said.

Officer Trott, who’s been a member of the Police Department since July 2011, was praised by Mr. Hamilton for his strong work ethic. Officer Trott issued 496 traffic violations and arrested 116 individuals over the past year, the council chairman said.

Police Chief Thomas Lee added, “I’ve met a lot of police officers in my 38 years in the police force and I’ve never met anyone who works harder than Lee Trott.”

Also Tuesday night, Brian D. Woodhead, deputy director of the Department of Public Works, was presented with the Town Administrator Award.

Town Administrator Richard Rainer Jr. pointed out that Mr. Woodhead was thrust into the leadership role over a year ago, after DPW Director Dave Kehew went down with a work-related injury. (Mr. Kehew, who was at Tuesday’s meeting, said he’s still on the mend and hopes to return to work in the near future.)

Mr. Rainer praised Mr. Woodhead for his role in the Prudence Island road improvement project, for getting a new salt shed installed for the town and assisting with the town’s first off-leash dog park. Mr. Woodhead also led a major cleanup of the Glen Farm stables before a new tenant took over, and was instrumental in improvements to the former Coggeshall School property and the Brown House at Glen Farm, the administrator said.