By MAC CORDELL

Sunday evening a Union County resident was honored for his 24 years of tireless work.
Union County Engineer Steve Stolte has been awarded the National Association of Counties 2008 County Courthouse Award. The award was presented at a ceremony Sunday as part of the National Association of Counties’ (NACo) annual conference in Kansas City.
I am very humbled by this,” Stolte said. “I am very honored. It feels great to be recognized because it is really recognition for our department and for Union County.”
Stolte was selected as the rural county winner by an independent panel of judges. Established in 2001, County Courthouse Awards recognize elected county officials who demonstrate “innovative and effective leadership to improve the quality of life of residents,” according to NACo.
“On behalf of the nation’s counties, I commend Mr. Stolte for his outstanding leadership in planning, coordinating and administering the completion of these projects which will be enjoyed by the residents of Union County for years to come,” said NACo President Eric Coleman, commissioner, Oakland County, Mich.
NACo officials elaborated in a release announcing Stolte as a winner.
“He is being recognized for his leadership in preserving the rural character and culture of Union County while providing a safe and efficient highway infrastructure simultaneously,” according to the announcement. “After years of planning, grant writing and collaboration, five unique projects under his direction were dedicated on the same day last year: The construction of two new covered bridges, the relocation and restoration of an existing covered bridge, the construction of a multi-use trail, and the designation of a scenic byway.”
In addition to a rural county recipient, one County Courthouse Award is presented each year in a suburban county and an urban county. Each winner receives a $5,000 college scholarship to present to a local student of his or her choice
Stolte said he will probably give the scholarship to a university to give out as it sees fit. A pair of likely criteria include that it must go to a Union County student and one that is considering a career in public administration or engineering.
“I am an Ohio State graduate so I would probably lean that direction, though we have several Ohio Northern graduates in this office and over the years I have been very impressed with Ohio Northern graduates and Ohio Northern University.”
Sue Irwin, business manager for the engineer’s office, was asked earlier this year if she would complete the nomination paper work.
“I was thrilled when the county commissioners asked me if I would nominate him because he had just nominated us (Irwin and Jeff Stauch as National Association of County Engineers project managers of the year) and we had just won so I was really honored to nominate him and I was really excited when he won,” Irwin said. “I was really excited. I told him I wanted to be the first one to shake his hand as a national award winner.”
She said the criteria lent itself well to writing about Stolte.
“The application is really all about innovative leadership and ways that leaders have impacted the community in a positive way and we certainly have that in Steve’s leadership,” Irwin said.
The application included quotes from several local, county, regional and state officials.
“Since I first got to know Steve Stolte 15 years ago, he has been instrumental in facilitating cooperation among county, city and business stakeholders in Union County,” wrote Marysville Mayor Chris Schmenk. “That cooperation has led to phenomenal economic growth for our county and our region of Ohio. Steve is a true statesman, in all senses of the word, and beneath his quiet unassuming manner lies a true leader.”
Former Union County Commissioner Glenn Irwin wrote that, “surely future generations of Union Countians will proudly recall their good fortune in having had Steve Stolte preserve and enhance this bit of their hometown history, for them to see, use and enjoy.”
The Courthouse Awards focus on the previous year’s accomplishments.
“If you look at his career overall, there have been a lot of projects, but we were bound by the guidelines to look at a certain period of time,” Irwin said.
While the projects were not started during the time frame, their conclusion did.
“It took a huge amount of collaboration to make these projects happen,” Irwin said. “These things didn’t all happen in the span of a year. It took years. Because they all happened on one day last year, that just fit the timeline.”
Stolte noted that in addition to taking many years, the projects took many people.
“I was surprised,” Stolte said. “I was excited in my own way. I felt very honored and humbled by that, very proud of our whole organization — the people that work here and everything they do. You don’t get this type of award because of you. You get these awards because of everyone around you.”
He added, “We have been able to accomplish a lot here. We have been able to do that because of the employees . We have wonderful employees. We have been able to do them because of relationships — the relationship we have with the county commissioners, because of the relationship we have with the business community, the relationship we have with everybody, so many people in this county. The fact that we were able to get these projects accomplished must just demonstrate that.”
The engineer said his job is to put air in the ball and get it rolling in the right direction.
“It is the people that work here that get it across the finish line,” Stolte said.