South Cook News

The  Evergreen Park village board recently announced the recipient village’s employee of the year award.

The village of Evergreen Park chooses an employee of the quarter every three months to celebrate employees that work hard to make the community a great place to live. This culminated in people choosing an employee of the year from previous quarterly recipients. During the Jan. 3 city council meeting, Evergreen Park Mayor Kelly Burke announced that by very popular demand, this year’s employee of the year was Gino Carusi.

This was the first year that an employee of the year was chosen, and Gino was the perfect choice for the inaugural spot. Supervisors at the Rec department sent over some comments on Gino for the mayor to read during the meeting. Gino works in the community center with the maintenance staff, cleaning, repairing and disinfecting, but seasonally he also manages the driving range, getting there before dawn to clean balls and set up, and staying until they lock everything up at the close.

"He is not only dedicated, but he puts his heart into every task. He is a valued employee, but an even better friend. I'm confident he would never ask for any extra attention or accolades, but it is well-deserved and I couldn't think of a better representative for the first annual Employee of the Year award for the Village of Evergreen Park," Recreation Department Coordinator Jill Lynn wrote about Gino.

Gino was recognized and thanked for being a model employee: always willing to help out on any task, respecting and valuing every individual he comes across and going out of his way to make them feel special. His coworkers know him as the MVP of the team, saying that he is the one employee the city could never afford to lose.

Gino was honored with a small award for his recognition.