The Colorado Judicial Branch annually recognizes a handful of outstanding employees for exemplary work contributing to the high quality of service provided throughout the state’s twenty-two judicial districts. On Friday, March 25, 2011, the Judicial Department announced its 2010 awards recipients:

• Court Employee of the Year - Gayle Tenorio
  • Tenorio is division clerk in the Boulder County Court and was nominated for the award by a judge, magistrate, and handful of court judicial assistants serving the Twentieth Judicial District. Tenorio’s positive attitude, work ethic, and attention to detail were all traits noted by those who nominated her.
• Judicial Officer of the Year – The Honorable David A. Bottger
  • Bottger is chief judge of the Twenty-first Judicial District. His thoughtfulness and caring of the trial court employees and community in Mesa County, trust in his management team, refraining from micromanagement, and challenging his team were qualities noted by those who nominated him.
• Manager of the Year - Karen Salaz
  • Salaz is district administrator of the Nineteenth Judicial District. She was noted as being a role model for all employees by assisting in many areas during staff shortages, striving for fairness, and working after hours and on weekends with representatives from Weld County and contractors on a recent construction project to add five courtrooms.
• Probation Employee of the Year - Karoline Borega-Kern
  • Borega-Kern is an officer in the Female Offender Program in the Fourth Judicial District (El Paso and Teller counties) Probation Department. Those who nominated her noted that she always goes above and beyond her normal duties, taking on extra work while maintaining a positive attitude, and being a serious advocate for the women in the Female Offender Program to help them successfully complete their probation terms.
• State Court Administrator’s Office Employee of the Year - Shane Bahr
  • Bahr is program coordinator for Colorado’s problem-solving courts. Since joining the Judicial Department in 2007, he is noted as having worked tirelessly to ensure the successful implementation and maintenance of these courts throughout the state by securing grant funding for problem-solving courts such as drug court, truancy court, and DUI court, helping to develop their data-gathering capabilities, and helping lead annual conferences attended by hundreds of professionals.
• Team Award – Michael Arriaga, Grace Cozzetto, Amanda McGowan, Lisa Padilla, Mike Ramirez, and Janet Sisneros
  • The recipients of this award comprise the six-member juvenile probation team in the Tenth Judicial District (Pueblo County). The team members were commended by those nominating them for their dedication to children and the program, along with their collaborative approach within the community to problem solving and professionalism.

The Colorado Judicial Branch includes the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, as well as the state’s district and county trial courts. The branch is also home to the Department of Probation Services, which employs more than 1,100 people including nearly 900 probation supervisors and officers. The department’s officers are responsible for supervising approximately 6,400 juvenile offenders and 55,500 adult offenders. As of July 1, 2010, the Colorado Judicial Branch employed approximately 3,400 employees, which includes 316 justices, judges, and magistrates. In fiscal year 2010, the latest for which full statistics are available, there were 541,591 cases filed statewide at the County Court level, 236,671 cases filed in District Court, 2,890 in the Court of Appeals, and 1,518 in the Supreme Court. There were 1,215 cases filed in the water courts.