Maryville's Doug Strickland receives Murphy Snoderly award

By LISA HOOD SKINNER
Tennessee Public Works Magazine

Doug Strickland, heavy equipment operator with the City of Maryville’s Engineering and Public Works Department, began answering to the nickname of “Rubber Duck” shortly after he was hired 41 years ago.

This year, he’s also called The Murphy Snoderly Award Winner, a prestigious annual TCAPWA statewide award given to a highly deserving Public Works employee. Strickland was presented the award at the TML Annual Conference in Knoxville. 

Origins of the Rubber Duck Nickname

The story goes that one day after work, in his early days with the city, he stepped into the Rocky Top Market. It was a gray, rainy day so naturally he was wearing his bright yellow raincoat.

As he shook off the cold and the rain just inside the gas station, the clerk behind the counter looked him over and told him he looked like a big ol’ rubber duck. Little did she know that she had given Strickland the nickname that he would be known by forevermore at work: “Rubber Duck.”

Over the years, he’s also become known as an MVP for snow removal efforts, due to his expertise and willingness in clearing the streets of snow and slush. (Strickland’s son still reminds him of his 8th birthday party that his dad had to leave early, because Tim Phillips, Assistant Public Works Director, needed him for a long night of snow removal.)

Strickland’s also the only guy who felt confident enough to maneuver a huge dump truck filled with asphalt down the greenway trails as they were being built. Some of the winding trails were difficult to reach and often required large equipment to be backed in, rather than driven in, for hundreds of feet.

The thought of ending up in the nearby creek was enough to discourage most employees from attempting it, but not Strickland. Phillips said back then, and still today, when Strickland is given a task, his response is always, “yes sir, I’ll take care of it!”

Phillips said he “appreciates Doug’s willingness to go the extra mile. He is a man of his word. If he says he’ll take care of it, he will. There’s no reason to check later to make sure that it’s been done, because it has, 100% of the time.”

Murphy Snoderly Award Qualifications

Each year the Tennessee Chapter presents the Murphy Snoderly Award to a deserving Public Works employee within the state. The recipient of this award must be an operation level or “working person” employee. Murphy Snoderly, for whom the award is named, was a long-time engineering and Public Works consultant for the state Municipal Technical Advisory Service.  

Snoderly felt the working person, the man or woman who day in and day out picks up garbage or patches streets or performs dozens of other chores at a relatively low pay scale, should be recognized for dedication and service to the community.  

This type of dedication is the reason Strickland won the prestigious Murphy Snoderly award earlier this year. Guidelines say the award recipient must be “an operation level or ‘working person’ employee.” It is presented annually at the Tennessee Municipal League Conference.

Oh, the Stories He Can Tell

Currently, Strickland’s main responsibility is sweeping Maryville’s streets. And after 20 years as the street sweeper, Strickland certainly has his share of stories to tell. For example, one night a driver ran right into the back of his street sweeper on Broadway just after she left a downtown bar. Now, Strickland was accustomed to sweeping up the glass and debris left behind from accident scenes, but he’d never before been the “cause” of an accident!

Another favorite story is the time he was called to sweep up thousands of soybeans that had been spilled on US 411 near the old Co-op. He says it was “like a sea of marbles on the road. Rolling everywhere, more of the soybeans rolled away from the truck than were swept up. It took forever to get the mess cleaned up.” And a few weeks later, there was a healthy crop of soybeans growing at the Op-Center where he empties out his hopper.

On another occasion, a lady called and said the cul-de-sac in front of her home was full of white worms, and they were raising a stink. Sure enough, the street was littered with thousands of worms who had crawled out of her yard and moved into the circle where they had died and were decaying! Just another day at the office for Strickland…

Quite a few folks in his department had a hand in writing his award nomination, ending it with “thankfully, we can all count on Doug to keep our streets neat and tidy because he’s a man of his word. And as always, his response is, “yes sir, I’ll take care of it.”