November 06, 2007
Tuesday AM

The City of Anderson was perhaps the most celebrated community Thursday night as they took home two of the five prestigious Alaska Community Awards of Excellence during the Alaska Municipal League's 57th Annual Local Government Conference Awards Banquet. Other communities to receive awards were the Municipality of Anchorage, the City and Borough of Juneau and the City of Palmer.

The City of Anderson, located in the Denali Borough between Anchorage and Fairbanks, continues to receive accolades for the Land Give-Away Program; a program created by the Anderson High School students to spur economic development in the community.

"Little did anyone realize that this story would make state, national, and international news," said acting Mayor Andy Archer, "It has really been an interesting and exciting summer to see individuals working on their lots."

For this truly innovative idea the City of Anderson was awarded both the Land Use and the Education & Local Government awards.

In the Public Works award category, the Municipality of Anchorage was honored for the Hansen Code Enforcement Implementation Team. This project brought new technologies to enforcing code violations. Using a wireless network the Municipality of Anchorage's code enforcement officers and employees are now able to use their time more efficiently to process code violations. This leads to less delays and more equal code enforcement allowing for less confusion by Anchorage's residents.

The City and Borough of Juneau accepted the award in Revenue & Finance for the Health Yourself Employee Wellness Program; a program created to promote healthy lifestyles by borough employee's as a way to reduce healthcare costs. Promoting physical fitness and nutrition challenges are just a few of the several ideas brought forward to employees.

"Healthy employees create positive role models and the fiscal benefits make this program a win-win for the community of Juneau," said a Juneau spokesperson.

The City of Palmer accepted the final award of the evening for the Valley Senior Friendship Program in the Just a Darn Good Idea award category.

"The program costs are minimal and the response from seniors has been overwhelming," said Detective Kelly Turner of the Palmer Police Department.

Many seniors in Palmer live alone and very few have someone who regularly checks on them. With this program in effect, seniors can voluntarily provide the Palmer Police Department with emergency contact information and the department is now better prepared to assist the city's seniors in any situation.

The winning municipalities submitted a detailed project description of an effective program in their community during the past year. Each program was then compared by a panel of judges with other programs in their respective award category. The Annual Awards categories are set to cover the broad scope of local government services provided by Alaskan municipalities.

Now in its 12th year, the Alaska Municipal League Community Awards of Excellence were created to honor and encourage Alaska's municipalities to improve local government services with innovative, effective and cost efficient programs. These awards can be seen on display by numerous cities and boroughs across the State of Alaska; an honor that is held in extremely high regard.

The Alaska Municipal League (AML) is a voluntary, nonprofit, nonpartisan, statewide organization of over 140 cities, boroughs and unified municipalities in Alaska, representing over 97 percent of Alaska's residents. The League is committed to maintaining and supporting Alaska's local governments and local government leaders. The League provides technical assistance, training, legislative advocacy and information to its members.

Source of News:

Alaska Municipal League
www.akml.org

 

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