Bill Falconi is 2006 Col. Bill Lambert Award winner
Lifelong Nevada City resident and city engineer Bill Falconi has been named recipient of the 17th Annual Col. Bill Lambert Award for outstanding contributions to Nevada City.
The award is given annually by the Marching Presidents of Nevada City to honor the efforts of citizens who contribute to the success of Nevada City and the annual Constitution Day celebration.
"With great passion, Bill has pursued the preservation of Nevada City and has left a strong footprint on the town," said Marching Presidents founder and organizer David Parker, in announcing the 2006 award selection. "At the same time, he has helped prepare Nevada City for the 21st Century. Bill has accomplished all of this with a selfless manner and good sense of humor. It is truly an honor, on behalf of the Marching Presidents, to present the Col. Bill Lambert Award to Bill Falconi."
Past recipients of the prestigious award are retired city manager Beryl P. Robinson Jr., former mayor and city clerk Cathy Wilcox-Barnes, parade organizers George and Pat Harper, city councilman and former mayor Pat Dyer, real estate broker Jim Mackey, writer Dave Carter, Chamber of Commerce executive manager Cathy Whittlesey, city councilman and mayor Steve Cottrell, businessman Bob Buhlis, retired Nevada County general services director Dennis Cassella, John Christensen, leader of community efforts to establish the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum, cartoonist R.L. "Crabman" Crabb, business owners Lee and Susan Thurston, Nevada City public works director Verne Taylor, historian Edwin Tyson and folksinger/activist U. Utah Phillips.
A second generation Nevada City native, Falconi is a U.S. Army veteran and engineering graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno. Except for his educational years and military service, he has spent his entire life in Nevada City.
"I find a great deal of satisfaction in being able to live and work here," says Falconi. "My dad retired after 30 years with Nevada County where he was in charge of public works. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
Falconi has worked with Nevada City since the early 1970s when he worked on the Downtown Betterment Project. He has been city engineer for 20 years, initially as a consulting engineer and more recently as a full-time employee.
Some of the city's greatest accomplishments during his tenure, he says, are rebuilding of the Pine Street Bridge, construction of the Commercial Street parking lot, remodeling of City Hall and the current $5 million sewer improvement project. He is now eagerly anticipating the repaving of Boulder and other city streets.
Falconi and his wife, Lorre, live on Prospect Hill. They have two children and a grandson. His mother, Angie, 92, is also a local resident.
Falconi knew the late Col. Bill Lambert and said he is honored and flattered to receive the Lambert Award. "You don't do things for those reasons," he said. "It's a nice surprise." He will accept the award on Sunday (Sept. 10) at the annual Marching Presidents post-parade party at Miners Foundry.
The Lambert Award is named in honor of the late Col. William H. Lambert, longtime Nevada City resident and founder of the Constitution Day Parade. This year's 40th annual parade begins at 2 p.m. Sunday on Broad Street.
The Marching Presidents of Nevada City is a fun-loving and educational group that portrays all 43 U.S. Presidents with varying degrees of historical accuracy. For reliable information on U.S. Presidents, see www.americanpresident.org.
