CLARKSVILLE, TN − Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts and City Department Heads presented service pins to City employees on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, marking milestones in the careers of 220 people across all departments. The annual luncheon was held at the Wilma Rudolph Event Center at Liberty Park.

Mayor Pitts said the City’s employees are the most important and vital asset of Clarksville City Government, and he is striving daily to make their work environment, conditions, and benefits, the very best. “The City of Clarksville employee family is truly a cross-section of Clarksville. This widely-diverse collection of individuals are the best-of-the-best relatives, neighbors, and friends to the entire population of our City,” Mayor Pitts said. “They are the people who both courageously and creatively go about the daily work of making life better for every person who calls Clarksville home, and I am so proud of each and every one of them,” he said.

There are about 1,800 employees in the City of Clarksville, factoring in Gas & Water and CDE Lightband employees along with all other departments. Service pins were presented Tuesday to people who have accumulated 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and, in one individual case, 45 years of service, with the City of Clarksville. That distinction for the most years of service belongs to Thomas McClellan, soon to be 67-years-old, and a current Lead Shift Supervisor at the Clarksville Gas & Water Department’s Wastewater Treatment Plant.

McClellan began working for Gas & Water at age 21, on Nov. 19, 1979, as a meter reader. “Before then, I had been a house painter, and when the weather was bad, there was no work. I remember I was bowling one night at East Gate Bowling Lanes, when a friend told me about a job opening with the City for a meter reader,” McClellan said. That was on a Saturday night, and the following Monday, he applied, and was hired. “That was back when we hand-wrote our meter numbers on paper. I’ve actually seen a lot of change through the years, working with the City. I’ve been through four wastewater plant expansions, and of course there was the impact of the 2010 flood which was bad,” he said.

McClellan grew up mainly in Clarksville, and has lived here for about 60 years. “Before then, we had moved around some. My father was in (U.S. Army) 5th Special Forces out of Fort Bragg, N.C., and we eventually came back to Fort Campbell,” he said. “I love working for the City. The job security has been wonderful, and no matter how bad the weather is, the job has been there for me. They have been real good to me,” McClellan said.

Mark Riggins, General Manager of Clarksville Gas & Water, said McClellan exemplifies true loyalty and dedication. “I am very thankful for Tommy McClellan’s years of service and dedication to CGW and our Wastewater Division. Tommy has experienced a multitude of changes and major events throughout his many years of service, including the treatment process and regulations, enhanced employee training, workplace conditions and safety measures, and the complete destruction and rebuild of the wastewater treatment plant following the flood of 2010,” Riggins said. “Tommy was instrumental in advocating for, and the completion or implementation of many of these items, and more. Tommy is a prime example I often use of an exceptional friend and employee who has answered his calling to serve his community through his career at CGW,” he said.

For the names of all City employees who received service pins on Tuesday, and the City departments they represent, visit here: https://www.clarksvilletn.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=3046.