{"id":42089,"date":"2026-07-09T09:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=42089"},"modified":"2026-07-09T09:37:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:37:00","slug":"city-planner-greg-koester-named-city-of-effingham-employee-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/42089-city-planner-greg-koester-named-city-of-effingham-employee-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"City Planner Greg Koester Named City of Effingham Employee of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>The City of Effingham would like to congratulate City Planner Greg Koester on being awarded Employee of the Quarter, as well as Employee of the Year, as a part of the City&#8217;s Employee Recognition Program.<\/p>\n<p>These Employee Recognition Awards recognize an employee for demonstrating either distinguished or extraordinary service throughout the year or other accomplishments that typically go unnoticed but are worthy of recognition.<\/p>\n<p>To receive Employee of the Year, you must also be awarded Employee of the Quarter. Koester was nominated for both Employee of the Quarter and Employee of the Year, for going above and beyond his job duties as City Planner. Over his 30 years with the City of Effingham, Greg has held many roles, including Engineering Technician, Subdivision Coordinator, and City Planner. City officials say Koester &#8220;has consistently gone the extra mile in his daily duties, providing thorough, detailed information to the public and to developers across the city. Most recently, Greg has outdone himself by coordinating the City&#8217;s entirely new and updated Comprehensive Plan, a roadmap guiding Effingham&#8217;s growth over the next 25 years. He has dedicated countless hours to organizing public meetings, focus groups, steering committees, and staff meetings &#8211; all to bring residents together and ensure their voices, ideas, and hopes for the community shape how Effingham grows. His commitment to public engagement and long-range planning will benefit the city for decades to come.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These contributions are a testament to Koester&#8217;s unwavering commitment to our community&#8217;s growth and future. His work often goes on behind the scenes, but it is the backbone of how our city plans, develops, and thrives.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The City appreciates your continued participation in the Employee Recognition Program. If you notice a City employee going above and beyond to serve you, please let them know by calling City Hall at 217-342-5300 or emailing\u00a0jkemper@effinghamil.com!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The City of Effingham would like to congratulate City Planner Greg Koester on being awarded Employee of the Quarter, as well as Employee of the Year, as a part of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":42090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>City Planner Greg Koester Named City of Effingham Employee of the Year - 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