Carbon County’s county administrator received top honors during a state conference this week.

On Tuesday, Eloise Ahner was named this year’s recipient of the County Commissioners’ Association of Pennsylvania Outstanding Chief Clerk/Administrator Award during an awards ceremony at Hershey Lodge.

Ahner was chosen for making a positive difference in the lives of county residents with her quiet professionalism, remarkable work ethic, excellent interpersonal and leadership skills, and the continuity she brings with her vast knowledge of issues affecting county residents.

“She was truly surprised,” Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said Wednesday, adding that she thought the commissioners were joking with her when they were persuading her to attend the conference.

Of Ahner’s ability and dedication to the county, Nothstein said she always gives “120 percent” and added that she has been helpful to many committees at CCAP over the years.

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich released this statement on behalf of the commissioners, “We are extremely proud of Ellie, and with four decades in county government is without equal in her depth of knowledge and experience. This due recognition is a testament to her indispensable contribution to our efforts, and those of former boards, to serve the residents of Carbon through excellence in administering and managing county government and its services.”

Ahner will mark her 40th year with the county next month. She grew up in Summit Hill and now lives in Towamensing Township with her husband, Jesse.

Ahner said, “I am truly humbled and honored to have been nominated and then selected for the CCAP award.”

She thanked her mentors through the years, such as present Commissioners Nothstein, Rocky Ahner and Lukasevich, commissioners through the years and the county solicitor, attorney Dan Miscavige. “I am just a cog in the wheel,” Ahner said. “There are numerous people behind the scenes who make the everyday possible such as the commissioners’ office staff, human resources staff and all of the county employees that I work with on a variety of issues. To all I say thank you.”

In the nomination letter, commissioners wrote, “Mrs. Ahner is a four-decade veteran of county government who has played an evolving and increasingly prominent and critical role in the administration of county government, to include assuming the position of Chief Clerk/County Administrator in 2012.

“Now in her ninth year at the helm of the county’s chief executive offices, the commissioners and solicitor enjoy great comfort in the execution and oversight of government business primarily because of the expertise and dependability of Mrs. Ahner.

“She is the consummate quiet professional bringing no attention to herself yet publicly praising others for timely accomplishments whose achievements make a difference in the lives of this county’s residents. She is an unsung hero whose time has come.”

Commissioners said she continues to seek self-improvement and recently completed the highly demanding NACO High Performance Leadership Academy without missing a beat with assisting in guiding the county and its services through the historical challenge of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

They praised her knowledge of the annual budget process, as well as human resources, purchasing, union contracts, grievances, arbitration, bidding, insurances, human services, elections, liquid fuels and every other aspect of government.

“Mrs. Ahner is unequivocally the continuity in county government and all leaders in this organization lean on her four decades of knowledge.”

Ahner, who became the county administrator on Feb. 2, 2012, after then county administrator Randall Smith retired, has a long history in the county, who was hired in 1980 and served as the assistant chief clerk from 1989 to 2012.

This isn’t the first time one of the commissioners’ staff was honored by CCAP.

In 2016, Nothstein was named the Commissioner of the Year by CCAP and in 2019, solicitor Miscavige was named as the solicitor of the year.