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Steamboat Springs — While most people look forward to driving home after a long day at work, Stan Gale looks forward to walking 20 feet from his office to the door of his motor home.

For the past three years, Gale has served as the Oak Creek water treatment plant director.

Gale decided when he moved to Oak Creek from Fort Collins that instead of living in a house, he would make his home on the same parcel of land as the water plant.

"Some people wouldn't like that, they like to get away, but I like being right at work. I just dash from here to there," he said.

Gale's boss, Oak Creek Public Works Director Jim Photos, said that type of dedication pays off.

"Even though I am considered (Gale's) boss, he is the one who teaches me. He has turned the water and waste plant around. If it wasn't for him, we'd have some major problems. He's extremely dedicated," Photos said.

On Wednesday, Gale's hard work was honored at the 25th annual Colorado Rural Water Association Conference and Exhibition when he received the 2006 Colorado Water Operator of the Year Award.

"It's a very big honor," Photos said. "It's a big, big thing. We're proud (Gale) got it this year"

Gale said he was surprised to hear he had been nominated for the award and jokingly said he was planning on getting a solid gold frame for it.

"It was an honor to get it. It means people are paying attention to what you're doing. Every other operator in the state already had one," he said.

Photos said he did not tell Gale he had won the award before Wednesday's ceremony to keep it a surprise.

"We don't know who exactly nominated him, I just made him go down and get it," Photos said.

Gale said the convention, which was held in Colorado Springs this year, is a good opportunity for water plant directors to meet other operators and take classes about about water treatment, disinfection and drinking water regulations.

Photos said Oak Creek bene--fits from being a member of the Colorado Rural Water Association because of the association is supportive.

Photos said representatives from the association travel across the state, meeting with employees of water plants and public works departments to help them develop new technologies and to assist with daily function.

Most recently, Photos said the association brought interested people from throughout the nation to tour Oak Creek's water plant because of its impressive new technology.

Photos said Oak Creek's new water plant, which was built in October 2004, was one of the first of its kind in the nation. Before the new plant, Gale said most of the plant depended on equipment from the 1940s.

"Working here in Oak Creek was more difficult because the plants were so old. I wanted to work here in the first place because I was looking for a small town to work in, and I enjoy working by myself, so it's a good fit," he said.

After Gale finishes his duties, he heads out the back door of the plant to his motor home. Gale says the town benefits from his living arrangement because someone is always watching the plant.

"I think the people of Oak Creek are fortunate to have someone like Stan working for them," Photos said.