Last week, the City of LaGrange announced that LaGrange Vehicle Maintenance Supervisor Tommy Brown was the winner of its “City Inspired” employee competition.

The competition gave employees 10 to 30 seconds to explain on video why LaGrange inspires them. All of the responses showed an appreciation for the city and its residents, but Brown, who has worked for the city for 44 years, made the greatest impression on the judges.

“It’s the sincerity of him,” said Jennifer Shook of the Lafayette Society of Performing Arts, who served as one of the judges.

“You can just feel his pride in the city.”

Brown’s video was recorded in front of the building where he works, which added another layer of visual interest to go with his heartfelt and inspiring speech.

“What inspires me the most is to know that we make a difference for our citizens of LaGrange,” Brown said in the video. “We improve the quality of life with the services that we provide, and even though I am an internal service function here in the garage, we support all of the user departments — our public safety department, our public works department and our utilities department — and that makes it where they are able to provide the quality of service that the citizens expect.”

The video will likely be used for promotional purposes with the city, especially due to the impression that it left on those who watched it.

“(Brown’s) overall presentation hit the high points of what you would think of when you want to be inspired,” said Katie Mercer Van Schoor, the City of LaGrange marketing and communications manager.

“He talked about improving the quality of life for the citizens of LaGrange, working with great employees and giving credit back to his work family.”

As the winner, Brown received a gift basket from Creative Call Ins, a certificate recognizing his achievement and a day off of work.

The video can be viewed on the City of LaGrange’s Facebook page.