O
n Monday, March 10, the Seymour/Oxford Rotary Club held its Ninth annual Civic Service Recognition Awards at Brookside Restaurant in Oxford to recognize the meritorious service of Seymour’s and Oxford’s first responders and volunteers.
The recipients of the awards were nominated by the service chiefs of the towns’ emergency services and selected by the First Selectmen of both towns.
The nominees were selected based on their performance in four categories: initiative; appearance, attitude and dependability; job knowledge; and job performance.
Seymour’s recipients were Peter Cunniff, an EMT with the Seymour Ambulance Association, and Tom Eighmie, Seymour’s Emergency Management Director.
Peter’s nomination, written by L. Scott Andrews, Seymour Ambulance Association’s Executive Director, highlights his initiative in going above and beyond the call of duty and his commitment to the organization.
A member of the Association since 2011, Peter has volunteered more than 2500 hours, heads the fundraising and social committees and wrote a grant to help fund 2013’s EMS Week events, all while attending Quinnipiac University as a criminal justice major.
Tom Eighmie’s nomination was written by Seymour’s First Selectman, W. Kurt Miller. He points out that Tom has served in a volunteer capacity as Seymour’s Emergency Management Director and chairman of the Local Emergency Planning Committee for eight years.
Additionally, he has been the chairman of the Town’s Communication Commission, which oversees the Town’s emergency communication systems, for 27 years. In the past he also served seven years as Seymour’s Fire Chief and was a founding father of Valley Emergency Medical Services, Inc.
Miller called Eighmie “a vital asset” to the community and thanked him for his years of selfless service.
