Women's History Month 2022

March is Women’s History Month, a time to commemorate, encourage and honor the vital role of women. This month, the City of Arlington celebrated the resilience and beauty of women who work for our city by featuring them and their roles on Instagram. Below is more information about some of the incredible women in our organization.

Elizabeth Duong – Arlington Police Department Community Outreach Officer

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Officer Elizabeth Duong has been with the Arlington Police Department for five years. As a Community Outreach Officer, she works with different organizations in Tarrant County and the City of Arlington to provide resources to the homeless or those at risk of homelessness in our community.

Officer Duong visits known areas to follow up with homeless residents in Arlington, and she goes to areas that are referred to her through other officers and the Ask Arlington App. She provides them with resources that can range from housing applications to getting them food and clothes. Her favorite part about her job is getting to see so many different people come together just to help one individual.

Dawn Reyes – Youth Services Librarian

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Dawn Reyes has been working for the library since 1996. She is passionate about what she does and has wanted to be a librarian since she was 13-years-old. Her favorite thing is to get to know families in the community that visit the Lake Arlington Branch Library.  She enjoys getting to know preschoolers that come each week for story time, then they grow and she helps those kids find books to practice their reading, then a few years later she helps them find a book for fun to read during the summer.

She focuses on providing programs and services to children.  Several days of the week, she presents story time to families with preschoolers at the Lake Arlington Branch. Dawn also offers a Chess Club and Lego building once a week for school age kids. When not hosting programs, she also assists visitors in finding books, movies, and other materials.  Lastly, Dawn goes out to visit schools and community events to share stories and information about library services.

Ashley Woolnough - Animal Services Manager

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Ashley Woolnough has worked in animal welfare/animal sheltering for 10 years and she has worked with the City of Arlington since May 2021. Working in animal welfare, every day is different for Ashley. Her main priority as the Animal Services Manager is performing research and administrative duties to keep the shelter rolling forward. It is very important to Ashley to make sure Arlington Animal Services (AAS) keeps improving every day, so she works to stay up to date on the best practices and newest trends in animal welfare.

Ashley’s favorite thing about working for AAS is the people, and of course the animals. Ashley said, “We have a great community and get to do some wonderful things for the animals of Arlington!”

Arlington Water Utilities Laboratory Services

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The Arlington Water Utilities laboratory is lucky to have amazing women like Ashley Wolfe, Beverly Easley, Jackie Medina, Martha Dodgen and Meaghann O’Bryan working for them. While they all have different roles, this group of sample collectors and laboratory analysts are in charge of sampling, testing and reporting results of Arlington’s water quality. Some form of testing and sample collecting is done on a daily basis, even weekends, to ensure the quality and safety. They are dedicated to ensuring the safety of our drinking water.

Martha Dodgen, Laboratory Analyst

Martha Dodgen has worked in the lab at the City of Arlington for 21 years. Martha has seen it all and every day is different. Some days she is dressed up in her Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), doing chemistry under a hood. Other days, she runs samples on an analytical instrument.  Plus, her job includes a lot of computer work. Martha loves that her job is varied and challenging.

Beverly Easley, Sample Collector

Beverly Easley is new to the City of Arlington, having just started in January. She learned quick though with a couple of ice days in February and has earned her Class D water operator license. A normal day for her involves driving to specific locations to perform field testing and collecting water samples to bring back to the lab for further testing. Beverly is currently training in the lab to perform bacteriological testing. Her favorite thing about her job is that she does not have to sit in an office all day and the impact her job makes. Beverly was in the military for 10 years before leaving to peruse education. Since graduating her goal has to been to work somewhere that really has a purpose and means something to the community. Beverly shared, “I am at the bottom of the ladder in my current position but even so my job matters to me and my community.”

Jackie Medina, Laboratory Analyst

A typical day for Jackie Medina involves testing metals in potable and non-potable water. That can include acidifying samples, checking instrument maintenance and making solutions. One of her favorite things about her job is getting to set her own pace when working on her tasks, while still maintaining a collaborative environment with others in the lab.

Meaghann O'Bryan, Sample Collector

Meaghann O’Bryan has worked for the City of Arlington for a little over two years. As a Sample Collector, her mornings are spent sampling water in Arlington and Kennedale, and her afternoon is spent running the bacteriological lab. Meaghann loves getting to work and spend time outside everyday. Meaghann said, “It's not the most glamorous outdoor job but I like that I'm not sitting in an office all day.”

Ashley Wolfe, Laboratory Specialist

Ashley Wolfe has worked with the City of Arlington for almost 11 years. As a lab supervisor, she balances her own lab work while managing the lab technicians and analysts and reviewing their work. It is her responsibility to help keep the City of Arlington compliant with all state and federal regulations required for safe drinking water including sampling, testing and reporting results. Ashley helps ensure the quality of all the tests analyzed at the laboratory.

Ashley loves how every day is different at her job and that it’s not boring and routine. She loves getting to solve problems with her team. Plus, she loves that what she does matters. Ashley said, “Being a part of the City of Arlington’s Water Department fills me with a sense of pride.”