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The City of LaGrange honored residential sanitation supervisor Tim Yearta with a 30-year service award at its Mayor and Council meeting on Monday.

Yearta has worked for the city since April 1990. During his career in the sanitation department, he has worked as a garbage division collector, operated a knuckle boom loader for eight years and operated a roll-off truck for commercial sanitation for 18 years. He also worked as a routing supervisor.

“He is always on the move overseeing the collection of garbage and recycling. He accepted the challenge and is a proven team member,” Mayor Jim Thornton said while presenting Yearta with the award.

Yearta was joined by Tina, his wife of 27 years, as well as his mother in accepting the award. Outside of work, Yearta has a hobby of finding and restoring antique cars and going to car shows. Yearta is currently working on a 1963 Ford Falcon.

“Dan’s one of the ones that’s there every morning, ready to go, rain sleet or snow … it’s a service that’s got to be run,” said city solid waste superintendent Chris Prather.

Thornton remarked that the city, which is currently hiring for several positions, is a good employer, evidenced by the frequent service awards he presents.

“I think there’s no better testimony that the city of LaGrange is a great place to work than how many times I get to present 20, 25, 30-year service pins, throughout all the departments of the city.”

Yearta thanked the city for providing him a career and said he hopes to stay here for a long time.

“It’s been a pleasure working here 30 years, that’s for sure … I didn’t know what I was expecting [when he started] but the City of LaGrange has been good to me,” Yearta said.