The Rotary Club of Dawson County continued a long standing tradition last week of honoring top employees in local government.

The club recognized the city and county employees of the year Dec. 3 during an annual Christmas celebration at the Lakeview Center.

Honored county staff included Chief Financial Officer Dena Bosten, sheriff's Sgt. Katie Drum and firefighter/EMT Shawn Benfield.

The city of Dawsonville's employee of the year was Gary Barr, who oversees public works for the municipality.

Each received a plaque and a monetary gift from the club.

Dawson County Commission Chair Mike Berg, a longtime Rotarian, said he was honored to conduct the awards ceremony.

"It's a special honor for us as Rotarians to do this," he said. "For our county to have employees that are top notch folks and for Rotarians to be able to honor those folks, it's not only a great tradition that brings our Rotary Club together with government, but it speaks to the essence of what Rotarians are all about."

The club has presented the awards annually since 1996.

"Each year we ask the managers of each organization who they would recommend as a top employee," Berg said. "As you might imagine, that's not the easiest thing to do, when you have a county with so many good employees."

Benfield thanked the club and praised his department's command staff for providing an enjoyable work environment.

"It's not every day that you get to come to a county to work that you just really love your job," he said. "I just want to say thank you so much for this. It's a great honor."