SCARBOROUGH – At a special ceremony last week members of Scarborough’s fire and police departments were honored for their service to the public. The annual award ceremony gives each department “an opportunity to honor many years of dedication to duty as well as recognize individuals and teams for their outstanding work during the past year,” Fire Chief Mike Thurlow said.

He added that, “The awards are very meaningful to the recipients because most of them are nominated and selected by their peers.”

The fire department named Bill Weeks firefighter of the year; Lt. Mark Searway, fire officer of the year; and Shawn Cordwell as paramedic of the year. In addition, Ashley Knight was named dispatcher of the year, and Ryan Cunningham was named student of the year.

The Fire Chief’s Merit Awards went to Capt. David Jackson for leading the department’s fire prevention and inspection bureau for the past 25 years, and to Capt. Nate Bennett and Firefighter Brian Phipps for their work on the department’s wellness and fitness initiative.

The fire department also granted unit citations for exceptional teamwork on two different emergency calls to Beth Cousino, Ben Chase, Tim Cram, Mike Haven, Bill Weeks, Doug Weed, Wes Merritt, Eric Berry, Cindy Gorham, Nate Contreras, Frank Keenan, John Fisher, Scott True, Tim Dalton, Andrew Flynn, Tom Selby and Arthur Green.

The police department’s leadership award was presented to Detective Ron Nelson. The Police Chief’s Award went to Officer Scott Vaughan, and Sgt. Timothy Barker was named police officer of the year.

In addition, officers Tim Dalton, Josh Guay, and Sgt. Tim Barker received the lifesaving award and Peter Chadbourne received the support service person of the year award.

The police department also issued unit citations for two different events to Chief Robert Moulton, Deputy Chief Marla St. Pierre, sergeants Eugene O’Neill, Rick Rouse, John O’Malley, Steven Thibodeau and Timothy Barker; detectives Donald Blatchford and Ivan Ramsdell; officers Michael Sawyer, Donald Laflin, Michael Thurlow, Eric Greenleaf, Joshua Guay, Robert Pellerin, John Gill, Craig Hebert, Scott Vaughan, Brian Nappi, Andrew Flynn, Ben Landry and Ted Mahar; and dispatchers Joseph Thornton and Ashley Knight.

The police department also issued formal commendations to officers Donald Laflin, Glenn Tucker, Craig Hebert and dispatcher Kevin Collins for meritorious service.

A Citizens Merit award was also presented to lobstermen John Gilman and Rick Googins for saving the lives of three boaters when their boat sank three miles offshore.

Years of service awards went to the following:

• 5 years – Kyle Jandreau, Raymond Whitney, Richard Moulton, David Oliver, Mike Mains, Andrew Flynn and Melissa DiClemente.

• 10 years – John Gill, Joe Carroll and Michael DiClemente.

• 15 years – Michael Balzano, Tom Dedian, John Fitzpatrick, Ryan Ouellette and Glen Reed.

• 20 years – Jason Greenleaf, Alan Vittorioso, and Dale Weeks.

In addition, Phil McGouldrick was the recipient of the Vern Paulsen award for 25 years of service to the fire department, and the George Nickerson award for 25 years of service with the police department was presented to David Grover, Eugene O’Neill, Thomas Chard, Mary Pearson and Francis Plourd.

The Irwin Faunce Award for 30 years of fire department service was presented to brothers Chris and Joe Pallotta, and Bill Weeks received the Chief Robert Carson award for 35 years of dedicated service.

This year the police department also instituted a new award for 35 years of service in honor of its first recipient, Chief Robert Moulton.

The Chief Henry Goold award for 45 years of service went to Ed Payson and, finally, Benny Chase was recognized for retiring after 54 years of service to the fire department.

– Kate Irish Collins