Assistant City Manager Steve Miller receives Samuel A. Greeley Local Government Service Award
City of Hickory Assistant City Manager Steve Miller has been honored with the Samuel A. Greeley Local Government Service Award by the North Carolina Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA-NC). The award was presented during the Hickory City Council meeting on May 19.
The Samuel A. Greeley Award recognizes long-serving public works professionals who have made significant contributions to their local government and to the advancement of public works practice through the American Public Works Association. Although the award was originally created as a national APWA honor, it was later discontinued at the national level. APWA-NC chose to preserve the tradition in recognition of the outstanding service and leadership demonstrated by public works professionals across North Carolina.
To qualify, recipients must have served a single local public agency honorably and continuously for 30 or more years and maintained at least 15 years of APWA membership during that service.
Miller began his career with the City of Hickory in August 1993 and has dedicated more than 32 years to serving the community. His roles have included Street Division Manager, Assistant Public Services Director, and Public Works Director. In March, he was promoted to Assistant City Manager, where he continues to support the City’s operations and strategic initiatives.
A 1991 graduate of Appalachian State University with a degree in Political Science, Miller is a past president of the APWA-NC Streets Division and serves as the liaison for the Kenworth neighborhood.
“The North Carolina APWA has played a major role in my professional growth throughout my career with the City of Hickory. The relationships I’ve built with colleagues across the state have strengthened both my work and the City as a whole. I’m truly honored and grateful to receive this recognition,” said Miller.
About Samuel A. Greeley
Samuel A. Greeley, born in 1882 on Chicago’s North Shore, was a pioneering engineer in the field of public works. Educated at Harvard and MIT, he worked alongside renowned engineer Rudolph Hering, contributing extensively to early research and best practices in refuse disposal. Their seminal 1921 publication, “The Collection and Disposal of Municipal Refuse,” became a foundational textbook for decades. Greeley passed away in 1968, leaving a legacy in public works engineering and education.