By Helen Borland / Staff 

What a difference a year and half makes.

Roswell’s last Transportation Director, Vasilios Andreou, was forced to resign in July of 2008 in the face of an embarrassing sexual harassment scandal where the cops were called in.

Enter new Director Steve Acenbrak, who held the job once before, and now the city’s once maligned department is getting awards — in lieu of arrest warrants.

At Monday’s Roswell Council Meeting, members of the Roswell Transportation Department were recognized for several outstanding achievements. First, the department was selected by the Georgia Association of International Transportation Engineers (GA ITE) as the recipient of the 2009 Agency Achievement Award. Scott Mohler, Director of the Transportation Department of the URS Corporation and past president of the Georgia Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (GA ITE) was on hand to present the award to Acenbrak. “It’s a big honor for us. We have been recognized by our peers, and that’s always a sweet thing,” proclaimed Acenbrak.

The Georgia Section Agency Achievement Award is awarded to only one agency that has distinguished itself through its initiatives related to improvements in the field of transportation. The award is to recognize significant contributions and is not granted automatically on a yearly basis. Awards consist of a plaque to reflect the contribution of the winners.

A fundamental objective of ITE is “meeting human needs for mobility and safety.” The awards committee wrote about the superior accomplishments of the Roswell DOT. The committee also felt the city has been at the forefront of applying Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), access management, innovative intersection design and other traffic enhancements. “The Roswell DOT has maximized the mobility in its infrastructure environment and has brought value to the citizens of Roswell and North Fulton. Roswell DOT has also demonstrated a cooperative spirit in the manner in which it has worked with other transportation agencies in the north metro area,” read the proclamation.

The second special recognition award was presented to Low for his outstanding contributions to the field. During the time Low was vice president of ITE last year, he created its first ever-mentoring program. GA ITE’s Mentoring Program is designed to provide current leaders in the transportation profession (mentors) an opportunity to share experiences, resources, philosophies, and lessons taught with younger ITE members (protégés) who have demonstrated potential for leadership roles. The goal is for mentors to transfer knowledge from one generation to the next. Protégés are highly motivated individuals with a willingness to learn. The program accommodated six mentors and six protégés this year.