Aptos Chamber Of Commerce Awards: 2017

Man of the Year: Doug Deaver, Community Advocate

Woman of the Year
Kristin Fabos, Cabrillo College

Business of the Year
Rio Sands Hotel

Organization of the Year
Advocates for the Forest of Nisene Marks

Outstanding Achievement
LEO’s Haven

Community Heroes
County of Santa Cruz Department of Public Works

Please help us honor these individuals and organizations at the Aptos Chamber Annual Dinner and Awards Night on Friday, October 27 at the Seascape Beach Resort.

Please call (831) 688-1467 or email esme@aptoschamber.com for reservations.

•••

Man of the Year
Doug Deaver 

Doug Deaver retired from Cabrillo College where he served as Director of Facilities Planning, Purchasing, Contracts & Risk Management. Prior to working at Cabrillo Doug was Director of General Services for Santa Cruz City Schools. Doug has a BS and MS from Purdue University in Industrial Management with a minor in Computer Science.

Doug’s passion is serving our community through volunteer work with Rotary Club of Capitola-Aptos including; Interact Clubs of Aptos & Soquel High School, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Camp (RYLA), the American Music Festival fundraising, speech contests, and Rotacare Free Medical Clinic.

Doug has been a member of the Capitola/Aptos Rotary Club for the past six years, serving as President and now as club Secretary. He is a member of the Club Board and the Club Foundation Board. This year he plans to work on numerous club projects as well as finding ways the club can better provide training to future leaders of our community.

Doug also works with the Interact Clubs at Aptos and Soquel High Schools as a Rotary Advisor helping the clubs reach their mission of “Service Above Self.” Doug is committed to serving and inspiring students. Co-President, Lindsay Jones of Aptos High School Interact Club says, “He is the most kind-hearted man in Aptos.”

Doug and his wife Diane have helped sponsor the CASA Imagine fundraiser, the Dominican Hospital Meditation Garden Project, and the Santa Cruz Playground Project.

As if all this wasn’t enough, Doug is also a Business Advisor for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), and has assisted business owners at Rancho Del Mar Center during the redevelopment.

Woman of the Year
Kristin Fabos

Kristin Fabos is the Director of Marketing & Communications at Cabrillo College, where she has led the marketing, communications, public relations, community relations and government relations efforts since 2010. In this role, she also serves as the Public Information Officer (PIO). She has been instrumental in giving the community information on Cabrillo College news and events, including the 4th Grade Experience, graduations, annual reports, community forums, college responses to state and federal legislation, as well as theatre and arts events.

As a member of the Cabrillo College Symphonic Chorus, she was honored by participating in a lifetime event, the opportunity to perform with the Chorus at Carnegie Hall this past June.

Kristin has 25 years of management and marketing/public relations experience spanning both corporate and nonprofit sectors. Prior to Cabrillo, Fabos was the Executive Director of SeniorNet, a leading technology educator of older adults, and prior to SeniorNet, she had a 13-year career in corporate, high technology marketing communications.

This past April, she, her husband Rye and a team of 15 others, traveled to Lesotho, South Africa with Habitat for Humanity and built a house for a grandmother who was raising her 4 grandchildren.

In 2013, 2014 and 2015, Kristin co-chaired the American Cancer Society’s Santa Cruz Garden of Hope Fashion Show fundraiser, and she currently serves on the committee. She is on the Board of Directors of Leadership Santa Cruz County (LSCC) and is an active member of the Watsonville Rotary.

Business of the Year
Rio Sands Hotel

The Rio Sands Hotel was originally developed in 1962 as a 42-unit residential condominium complex. In 1969, three additional parcels were acquired and the property was increased to 52 units and began operating as a hotel, with a “Bed and Breakfast Permit.” The hotel went through a major remodel in 2011.

The employees pride themselves in offering affordable accommodations, “100 steps to the beach.” Today the property is co-owned by Lou Bartfield and Steven Allen and is operated by Allen Property Group, with Maggie Moya as General Manager.

For decades, the Rio Sands has provided its meeting room facilities, free of charge, to various community and civic groups ranging from community forums, supervisorial updates, and emergency planning. Recently the hotel regularly provides space for groups such as the Aptos Little League, Capitola/Aptos Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) and fundraising presentations for the Aptos History Museum. The Rio Del Mar Improvement Association in 2015 awarded the hotel for providing its facilities for the group’s many meetings.

Organization of the Year
Advocates for the Forest of Nisene Marks

The Advocates for the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park is a non-profit all-volunteer organization that supports the maintenance and improvement of the Park and are celebrating its 25th Anniversary.

For the past 25 years, they have helped maintain and repair the Park’s trails, bridges and even the ‘out-buildings’ through their hard-working volunteers and to brush-back, remove obstructions, maintain drainage, and grade the trail surfaces as necessary.

The Advocates act as a ‘liaison’ to State Parks advocating for the wants and needs of the Park users including development of the General Plan, installation of Margaret’s bridge, the creation of the ADA trail to the Wagoneer Overlook, benches at Santa Rosalia, Interpretive Panels and Dust Abatement on the Fire Road to name just a few.

Working collaboratively with Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, the Advocates are on the Nisene Committee to pursue even larger projects in the Park. Advocates for the Forest of Nisene Marks website: www.advocatesfnm.org

Outstanding Achievement of the Year
LEO’s Haven

In December of 2013, Bob, Tricia, Lauren, Evelyn, and Oliver Potts visited an inclusive playground. For the first time, Oliver, who uses a wheelchair, could play on a playground with his sisters. Inclusive playgrounds are specially designed so a child with a disability can play side by side with their friends without being impeded by sand, wood chips or stairs and have custom play equipment that delight and challenge all children.

One in 10 children have a disability, that’s about 5,000 children in our county and currently, our community families are driving up to two hours away to take their children to inclusive playgrounds.

To bring inclusive play to Santa Cruz County, the Potts family founded the all-volunteer Santa Cruz Playground Project, and in June of 2015 formed a public-private partnership with the county to make LEO’s Haven at Chanticleer Park in Live Oak a reality. “LEO” is an acronym from the names of the Potts siblings and “Haven” refers to the community’s desire to develop a safe and welcoming play space where all children can belong.

The non-profit, Shane’s Inspiration, designed the playground based upon input from local children. In June of 2016 the capital campaign began, and businesses, foundations, service organizations, and other community members are generously stepping forward to create a unique and permanent legacy of compassion and inclusion. Soon children, regardless of their abilities, will be able to play with their friends at LEO’s Haven.

For more information please visit www.santacruzplaygroundproject.org

Community Heroes of the Year
County of Santa Cruz Department of Public Works

The County of Santa Cruz was subject to an extraordinary winter that rivaled past disaster events, such as the 1982 winter storm and the 1989 earthquake events in terms of infrastructure damage.

From December 2016 through March 2017, three separate local, state and federal disasters were declared for the County due to significant rainfall amounts. There was approximately $129 million in damaged to overall infrastructure, with approximately $114 million on County roadways alone (approximately 220 County road locations were damaged).

Other major work was completed in securing the safety of the Pajaro River and the Salsipuedes tributary levees in the Watsonville area, and in protecting three critical sewer lines in Seacliff area. At one time, the entire north area of the County of Santa Cruz transportation network was closed down due to the storm damage on state and local roadways.

In response, the County maintenance staff was working 12-hour shifts throughout these winter storms to reopen roadways and repair damaged roadway sites. Additionally, County engineering staff worked on documenting and producing over 220 work products to FEMA and FHWA to seek reimbursement on the storm damage sites.

Public Works was also able to seek assistance through FHWA and Caltrans to reopen critical roads through emergency construction projects. Critical roads such as Soquel-San Jose Road, Valencia Road, Bear Creek Road (now under construction), and many more major commute corridors were reopened in a timely manner.