{"id":15369,"date":"2020-03-01T20:00:56","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T02:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/?p=15369"},"modified":"2020-03-01T17:25:55","modified_gmt":"2020-03-01T23:25:55","slug":"tennessee-governor-bill-lee-recognizes-wes-montooth-for-excellence-in-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/2020\/03\/01\/tennessee-governor-bill-lee-recognizes-wes-montooth-for-excellence-in-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Governor Bill Lee recognizes Wes Montooth for Excellence in Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TennesseeNashville, TN <\/strong>– Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has recognized Wes Montooth of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture with the Governor\u2019s Excellence in Service Award. The biannual award recognizes outstanding state employees who elevate the way Tennessee State Government delivers services.<\/p>\n

\"Tennessee<\/a>

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Wes Montooth and First Lady Maria Lee.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Montooth has worked for the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) for 12 years. As an animal health technician in the State Veterinarian\u2019s office, he oversees animal health and the well-being of livestock. He has also been a leader in emergency preparedness. <\/p>\n

\u201cWes is highly respected by his fellow staff members and by his customers,\u201d Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, D.V.M. said. \u201cIn addition to having the expertise and leadership to manage situations, he brings compassion to the role. He consistently steps up and goes beyond what\u2019s required, often during difficult circumstances involving the welfare of livestock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montooth\u2019s volunteer spirit was evident in 2015 when he deployed to Minnesota during the national outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). The team from Tennessee concentrated on poultry surveillance and their work was commended for outstanding performance. Montooth helped to fine-tune TDA\u2019s HPAI emergency response plan, ultimately preparing the state for Tennessee\u2019s own HPAI incident in 2017. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe people and the animals I work with are all the motivation I need to put forth extra effort,\u201d Montooth said. \u201cI am pleased to be honored by the Governor\u2019s office, yet I feel like I share the recognition with so many of my TDA co-workers. We make a strong team, and we are each committed to the same values and to always providing the best care. We want our work to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, his efforts may have saved a horse\u2019s life. When Montooth and law enforcement officers responded to a livestock welfare complaint, they found an abandoned horse that was starving and dehydrated. Montooth wasted no time in attending to the horse\u2019s immediate needs and helped arrange for long-term housing and care.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWes has been a great mentor and leader to other members of our Animal Health team and there is no doubt his work has a positive impact on the welfare of livestock in Tennessee,\u201d State Veterinarian and Assistant Commissioner for Animal Health Dr. Samantha Beaty said. \u201cWe value his skill in working with animals, and his willingness to go the extra mile for stakeholders and customers. Wes is a valuable asset to our division as well as the department.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winners of the Governor\u2019s Excellence in Service Award are front-line employees who embody their agency\u2019s core values and demonstrate their loyalty to putting stakeholders first. <\/p>\n

Montooth resides in Overton County with his wife, Holly, and two teenage sons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nashville, TN – Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has recognized Wes Montooth of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture with the Governor\u2019s Excellence in Service Award. The biannual award recognizes outstanding state employees who elevate the way Tennessee State Government delivers services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[12333,10850,11194,12715,1643,549,284,4772,1651,261,1632,7380,3350,12717,6412,12716],"class_list":["post-15369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","tag-bill-lee","tag-charlie-hatcher","tag-horse","tag-maria-lee","tag-minnesota","tag-nashville","tag-nashville-tn","tag-overton-county","tag-tda","tag-tennessee","tag-tennessee-department-of-agriculture","tag-tennessee-first-lady","tag-tennessee-governor","tag-tennessee-governors-excellence-in-service-award","tag-tennessee-state-government","tag-wes-montooth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15370,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15369\/revisions\/15370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}