City honors longtime aquatic park staffer

Pool maintenance at The Colony Aquatic Park might not be the sexiest job on the city payroll but don't tell that to the ladies attending the park's morning exercise classes.

As part of the presentation of the city's Employee of the Year award to Frank Armijo last week at city hall, Aquatic Park Director Elise Knox bragged on his popularity.

"What he's really great at is customer service," she said. "Our ladies in the morning exercise classes say, 'Oh Frank, Frank's so cute, the water's so beautiful, we love Frank.' No one has as much love from those ladies as Frank does."

As a certified aquatic facility operator, Armijo has been in charge of pool maintenance at The Colony Aquatic Park for 15 years. He'll be retiring in January.

"I've enjoyed every bit of it. I'd like to thank everybody. It's a very special honor for me," he said.

Armijo reflected on when he first interviewed for the job, joking that his interest resulted from his wife wanting him out of the house.

"When I first interviewed for the job, Elise took me around. She took me into the pump room, saying, 'you're going to do this, you're going to do that,'" he said. "When we were walking out I thought, 'oh my god, what am I getting myself into?' … I'm going to miss the place. I have a lot of fond memories."

Knox also reflected on Armijo's interview 15 years ago, remembering that he said he was familiar with backyard pool maintenance but wasn't sure if he knew as much as employees of professional pool companies.

"Those guys who work for pool companies that I hire took shortcuts. They weren't thinking along the lines that this is a facility that we're going to proud of today and we're going to maintain and be proud of in the future," she said. "I knew from our first conversation that Frank and I would be along the same line."

Knox said she'd been through eight pool maintenance staffers before Armijo began his 15-year tour.

"That's how hard the job is. That's how much you have to master," she said. "People would get focused on the big projects and get all excited about building the next pool. Frankly, it's about the details. It's about clean water, clean pools, and being proud of what we have and doing it every single day.

"Most importantly, [Frank] loves our place. He's as proud of our facility and our staff as any dad is on graduation night, and that's why he's employee of the year."

Human Resources Director Margaret Burkett said his coworkers described Armijo as dedicated, possessing a can-do attitude, generous, and the definition of a team player.

Other nominees for Employee of the Year included Communications Director Diane Baxter, Police Officer Brent Brown, library staffer Megan Charters, and Christie Copling with the CVB.

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