City of Madison honors Employee of the Year recipients

The City of Madison recently honored its Employee of the Year recipients for 2024, which includes three city employees that have gone above and beyond the call of service to the community.

Here are this year’s Employee of the Year honorees:

Firefighter of the Year

Madison’s Firefighter of the Year this year is paramedic Luke Hall.

Hall, a city employee for six years now, received two Lifesaving awards this year —  including one for transporting a 6-month-old baby in respiratory arrest to Women’s and Children’s Hospital — and has continued to work his way up the ranks in his department.

Hall helps his fellow firefighters by serving as an EMS Division instructor and mentor, helping with instruction for the Training Division, teaching rescue bail outs, high-rise operations and more.  

He is a part of the Health and Safety Committee and created a binder that lists all mental health resources available to personnel.

“Luke is dedicated to the fire service, he is a continuous student of the craft, and he exemplifies everything that Madison Fire represents. Luke is a committed employee who consistently exceeds expectations, continues to increase his knowledge, skills, and abilities and continues to grow not only as a Madison Fire team member but as a person.”

Capt. Russ Kennington

Police Officer of the Year

Officer Joshua Overman was honored as Madison’s Police Officer of the year. Overman, who joined the Madison Police Department in 2022, has fielded 881 calls for service in the last six months and self-initiated hundreds of routine patrols to check for security concerns and criminal activity.

Overman also conducted 227 traffic stops for a variety of moving and equipment violations, along with his narcotics interdiction efforts. His proactive approach has led to 44 arrests, and more than 20 of those arrests were for possession of narcotics, including many felony narcotics arrests.  

“Officer Overman is an outstanding young police officer who espouses the core values of our organization. He strives to ensure a safe community, and his work ethic is respected and admired by his peers and supervisors, alike.”

Chief Johnny Gandy

City Employee of the Year

The City of Madison Employee of the Year is Candace Watson, a dispatcher and supervisor working out of the Madison County 911 Center for the City since 2015.

Prior to coming to the City of Madison, she was a paramedic with the Athens-Limestone Ambulance Service.

According to her supervisors, Watson has aided in the apprehension of multiple suspects through her attention to detail, intelligence gathering and forethought during unfolding incidents.

“Candace is one of the City’s most experienced and dedicated dispatchers, and she devotes herself wholeheartedly and professionally to the service of her community and her fellow first responders. Candace has aided, comforted, and reassured countless citizens of Madison in their most critical moments of need.”

Mayor Paul Finley

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