Cast your vote for 'Chemical John'

The council is calling on every resident to do their bit in the campaign to get John Levitt named as Council Worker of the Year.

Nicknamed 'Chemical John', the task force operative in the Royal Borough's streetcare and operations department, is well known throughout the borough for his dedication to cleaning up graffiti, even out of hours.

The popular Pinkneys Green resident is one of four finalists in the Council Worker of the Year Award's transformation category which recognises 'a council worker whose work has transformed a project team, department or scheme to benefit the community or council itself'.

John has a real challenge on his hands, with his fellow contenders coming from councils between two and five times the size of the Royal Borough - and a recent tally showed that John is in the lower half of votes so far.

Cllr Colin Rayner, lead member for highways and streetcare, said: "John may be at a disadvantage in terms of borough size but what the Royal Borough lacks in numbers it makes up for in community spirit.

"Let's all pull together to vote for John and show how much we appreciate his hard work and dedication to improving the quality of borough streets. It takes only take few residents forgetting to vote or post that could make all the difference."

Polling continues until Thursday 18 June with the category finalist receiving the most votes being announced at an awards ceremony on Thursday 2 July.

Visit www.rbwm.gov.uk and follow the link to see a video of John in action and to vote for him.

Other ways of voting are by:

• logging on to http://www.localgovernmentchannel.com/awards/c/transformation_2009/v/john_levitt/ (the video link)

• SMS - text LGATV 2 John to 80039. Regular network rates apply

• filling in a form - available at various sites throughout the borough including the Town Hall and York House reception.