Western earns top honors for commitment to community at Polaris Awards
“Across our organization, Western staff is focused on providing high-quality services for our residents, and these awards highlight a few of our recent programs that keep our customers informed about our services,” said Michele McKinney Underwood, Western’s community affairs manager.
Western’s water budget rate outreach received the Polaris Award for successfully educating Western customers on the District’s new rate structure. The District partnered with Laer Pearce and Associates to provide outreach. Currently, 86 percent of Western customers are within their water budget thanks to the thorough outreach.
The District also worked in partnership with CV Strategies on its 2012 Strategic Plan, which took home a Capella Award. The plan assists the District with turning goals and objectives into realities by providing a Board of Directors-driven document that serves as a road map for the next two to three years. In addition, Western’s new website received a Capella Award as well.
“From front-line workers to our executive staff, all of our team members have had an influence on making these projects award-winning,” Western’s GM John Rossi explained. The awards were judged by industry peers in the Tri-Cities TN/VA Chapter; established in 2002, the Tri-Cities TN/VA Chapter of PRSA is based in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.
The Polaris and Capella awards are the highest honors PRSA’s Inland Empire Chapter bestows. PRSA is the largest professional organization serving the U.S. public relations community and provides news, information, thought leadership, continuing education and networking opportunities.
Western Municipal Water District provides water supply, wastewater disposal and water resource management to the public in a safe, reliable, environmentally sensitive and financially responsible manner.
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