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County Receives National Awards for Improvements in Recreation, Emergency Medical and Police Services
DeFuniak Springs, Fla – Walton County Government leaders proudly accepted the 2007 Voice of the People Award for Transformation in Emergency Medical Services, Police Services and Recreation Services Sunday, October 7, from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Commissioner Kenneth Pridgen (District 2), Walton County Parks and Recreation Manager, Brad Alford, and Assistant Fire Chief Johnny Padgett represented Walton County to receive some of the awards in Pittsburgh.
ICMA is a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging local government managers to monitor their performance regularly and the performance of their community so managers can understand resident opinion and guide staff and elected officials toward needed improvements. ICMA partnered with National Research Center, Inc. in Boulder, Colorado to conduct The National Citizen Survey™ that offers a scientifically sound survey of residents on a variety of topics including the quality of service delivery, quality of life, safety and overall quality of services for Walton County. Eight jurisdictions were selected as winners in the Transformation Awards in the following areas (there was one winner in each area): Fire services, EMS, street repair, garbage collection services, recreation services, overall services, library services, police services, park services and code enforcement services. The Walton County government won in three of the ten areas. To win the Transformation Award, the improvement in service quality rating must be significantly higher than the rating from the most recent prior survey conducted in that jurisdiction and larger than improvement shown in all other eligible jurisdictions in 2006.
“We are honored by the recognition we received by the ICMA and National Research Center,” says Commissioner Kenneth Pridgen, “and we are touched by the response many of our residents gave during the survey which resulted in our county government being placed in the national spotlight. Our entire Board of County Commissioners joins me in thanking our citizens for such an honor, along with the ICMA and National Research Center. We also congratulate our EMS team, the South Walton Fire District, Parks & Recreation team, along with our local law enforcement (the county’s Sheriff Department and the City of DeFuniak Springs Police Department) – for receiving such recognition, too. We also want to take this opportunity to thank our entire government team in every department throughout Walton County for all their hard work throughout the year to serve the great people of Walton County.”
Article by: Christopher Mitchell, Public Information Officer
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