Rochester Hills

Artist employee honored

By Linda Shepard
C & G Staff Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photo by Linda Shepard Al Brown, the Rochester Hills Employee of the Year, has created signs for Veteran’s Memorial Point and other city parks. Photo by Linda Shepard Al Brown, the Rochester Hills Employee of the Year, has created signs for Veteran’s Memorial Point and other city parks.

ROCHESTER HILLS — Sculpting a “mastodon bone” bench from recycled plastic isn’t exactly in park ranger Al Brown’s job description.

But Brown’s degree from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit has put him in a unique position to add original art to some of the city’s parks. The “bone” bench marks the site of a mastodon discovery off of Adams Road on the Clinton River Trail, near Leach Road.

Brown has created signs for Veterans Memorial Point, at Avon and Livernois, and the mastodon site. “I just finished a foam fireplace in the pioneer room of the Rochester Hills Museum,” Brown said. “It was like making a movie prop.”

For his dedication, commitment, art contributions and efforts that go “above and beyond his duties,” Brown was named the Rochester Hills Employee of the Year Jan. 23.

“This is a program we started a couple of years ago to recognize outstanding employees in the city,” Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett said. “They are nominated by their peers. A committee of staff members looks over the nominations and make recommendations as to who will receive the awards.”

Brown has been working at Bloomer Park since 1980. At that time, Bloomer was a state park, and Brown served as an employee of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

“In 1992, the state of Michigan sold Bloomer Park to the city for $1,” Brown said. “Today, I run the daily operations and supervise the summer staff. One day I’m a plumber and the next day I’m a garbage man.”

He oversees all of the Bloomer Park shelters and the safety inspections for all of Rochester Hills’ park play equipment.

Brown is also an integral part of the city’s Relay for Life race event at Bloomer Park — marking and clearing the racecourse, placing mile markers in their locations and transporting all volunteers to their stations.

His original bronze hummingbird sculptures are auctioned off, with all proceeds donated to Relay for Life. Brown was recently named Artist of the Year by the Orion Art Center, and continues to work in marble and bronze.

City officials also presented proclamations to several other “outstanding” city employees — including project engineer Tracey Balint, media production technician Jason Dale and accountant Diane Keller.

“The city is just made up of the people who work here,” Barnett said. “The team is only as good as the players, and we have a great team here.”

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Linda Shepard at lshepard@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1065.