City of Tallahassee Accomplishments
2008 - 2009
- The Florida Green Building Coalition, Inc. (FGBC) designated the City of Tallahassee as a Gold Certified Green City under the Local Government Standard. Tallahassee is the first city in Florida to be Gold certified and the City progressed from silver to gold certification in less than one year.
- Florida Governor Charlie Crist recognized Tallahassee as the winner of the 2008 Best Practice Award in the governmental category for its comprehensive Go Green Tallahassee initiative during the Tenth Annual Sustainable Florida Best Practice Awards ceremony.
- The City of Tallahassee's website, Talgov.com, was named a winner of the Best of the Web Award by the Center for Digital Government.
- The City of Tallahassee was voted "the best tasting drinking water" in the state of Florida by the American Water Works Association.
- The Public Technology Institute named Tallahassee an "Innovation Lab" for its Public Safety Systems Integration Project.
- The Government Finance Officer's Association's (GFOA) Outstanding Budget Presentation Award for the city's budget process and document for the 22nd consecutive year and the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the city's annual financial report for its 26th consecutive year.
- The National Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award for the third consecutive year.
- Tallahassee Regional Airport received its fourth consecutive perfect certification inspection from the Federal Aviation Administration.
- City Auditor, Sam McCall, was awarded the 2008 Robert W. King Memorial Award by the Association of Government Accountants.
- The Tree City USA Award from the National Arbor Day Foundation for the 16th year.
- The City Attorney's Office received the Florida Chief Justice's 2008 Law Firm Commendation Award for its significant contribution of pro bono legal services. Tallahassee is the first municipal law office in Florida to receive the award.
- The City Auditor's office recognized by Association of Governmental Accountants and received Certificate of Achievement in Citizen-Centric Reporting.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded the City of Tallahassee the "Excellence in Site Reuse" Award for the Cascades Contaminant Clean-Up. It marked the first time EPA has ever given this award, which recognizes the City's innovative and environmentally sensitive work to remove contaminants from the area so it can be developed into a world-class public park.
- Ourgreencities.com, an online watchdog dealing with environmental Issues throughout the country, added Tallahassee's John Marks to its list of top mayors for sustainability. The list currently includes 20 mayors, including Michael Bloomberg of New York and Richard Daley of Chicago.
- The Tallahassee Fire Department Basic Life Support Competition team received the "National Invitational Champion's Award", placing first in a national patient care competition.
- Fire Chief, Cindy Dick, was selected as a top five finalist for the Florida Business and Professional Women's Shattering the Glass Ceiling Award.
- The Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Affairs Department was awarded one of 125 national grants from the National Parks and Recreation Association to implement a Sticks for Kids program at Jake Gaither Golf Course.
- The City of Tallahassee hosted the 2008 Florida Neighborhood Conference. Neighborhood Services staff worked on all aspects in planning and implementing activities for the conference which was designed to assist communities in building strong neighborhood foundations while offering workshops, tours, speakers and opportunities for neighborhood advocates to network and share information.
- TPD was Re-Accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) in March 2008, receiving "Meritorious" status and recognized as the third longest nationally accredited law enforcement agency.
- TPD's traffic unit was recognized by the Florida Department of Transportation in June 2008, as being number one in the State of Florida for DUI enforcement and runner-up (2nd) over-all as a traffic unit.
- The City received the Outstanding Governmental Partner award for the Project Share / Good Neighbor Program from Capital Area Community Action Agency. This award was given to the City for providing assistance to hundreds of citizens to pay their utility bills.
- In April 2008, the City of Tallahassee Electric Utility received the first place Safety Award from the Florida Municipal Electric Association for category D, which is comprised of utilities with 350,000-749,999 man-hours worked, for the least amount of accidents on the job.
- The City of Tallahassee Underground Utilities was awarded $1.5 million in environmental grants for the Advanced Wastewater Treatment project.
- The City of Tallahassee Underground Utilities employee Leon Hightower received the 2008 Florida Water Environment Association Leroy Scott Award for excellence in the field of Wastewater Operations.
- The City of Tallahassee Underground Utilities received the 2008 Florida Water Environment Association Municipal Utility Operational Performance Excellence Award for Thomas P. Smith Water Reclamation Facility and the Lake Bradford Road Wastewater Treatment Facility.
- The City of Tallahassee Stormwater Utility won the Outstanding Achievement Award for Stormwater Programs in 2008. The award from the Florida Stormwater Association, recognizes stormwater programs that have demonstrated innovative accomplishments and have shown an outstanding commitment to best stormwater management practices that benefit the environment and local citizenry. Award recipients are selected through a highly competitive, peer-review process.
- Solid Waste Service (SWS) received the 2008 Best Practice Finalist Award in the Green Building category for the Administration Building at the 10th Annual sustainable Florida Best Practice Awards ceremony.
- The City's Underground Utilities won the 2008 statewide U.S. Environmental Protection Excellence Award for its 2008 Water Quality Annual Report.
- Solid Waste Services was recognized and presented with the 2008 Outstanding Partnership Recipient award from Recycle Florida Today, Inc for partnering with the Florida Bar, Leon County and the Southern Waste Information Exchange, Inc to recycle old law books.
- The City of Tallahassee Utilities received the 2008 FMEA Outstanding Community Service Award.
- Re-accreditation of the Tallahassee Senior Center by the National Institute of Senior Centers.
- Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service recognized the Smith-Williams Service Center for outstanding partnership to provide free Income Taxes Assistance to low income residents.
- The Alliance Center, a 70,000 square-foot mixed-use development, to open Spring 2009, represents a $14 million improvement.
- Plaza Tower, a 224-unit condominium, to open Spring of 2009, represents a $45 million improvement.
- Aloft Hotel, a 150-room hotel on Monroe Street, to open Summer of 2009, represents a $30 million improvement.
- The State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Water Resource Management presented its 2008 Water Plant Operations Excellence Awards to the City of Tallahassee Underground Utilities at the annual awards ceremony held in Tallahassee in December 2008.
2007
- The City's Fleet Division was recognized as one of the 100 Best Fleets in the Nation by Fleet Equipment magazine.
- The Tallahassee Police Department's Traffic Unit was recognized by the International Association of Chiefs of Police as the number one traffic unit in the United States.
- Office of the City Auditor was recognized as an Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA) 2006 Knighton Bronze Award winner for an audit report on the City's Pension Investments.
- The City Attorney, James English, received the Florida League of Cities 2007 Attorney of the Year award.
- The Electric Utility was recognized as one of 48 of the nation's more than 2,000 public power utilities to earn Reliable Public Power Provider recognition from the American Public Power Association for providing consumers with the highest degree of reliable and safe electric service.
- The Water Utility received the 2007 Water Environment Federation Burke Award, which is a national award presented to wastewater utilities with outstanding safety programs.
- The Department of Communications won the following awards from the Florida Public Relations Association's 2007 Golden Image Awards:
- The Dick Pope All Florida Golden Image Award for its communications efforts to inform 46,000 Solid Waste Utility customers of a service change to curbside trash collection and weekly recycling collection. This award is given to only one entry each year and represents the best communications program in the State of Florida.
- The City's television station, WCOT, received two awards for its "DUI Prevention: Saving Lives" video, including a Golden Image Award, the top honor in the Promotional/Marketing category and a Judges Award in the Public Service category, highlighting the innovative use of YouTube.
- Awarded the most innovative marketing campaign by the US Conference of Mayors for CANpaign 2006 Community Recycling Challenge.
- Talgov.com, the City's website, received the 2007 National Association of Government Webmasters Excellence Award.
- The Department of Management and Administration received Unqualified Opinions on the City's Financial Statement from the external auditors three years in a row (2006, 2007, 2008).
- The City of Tallahassee was awarded two separate U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants totaling $400,000 to target the assessment of petroleum and hazardous waste contamination within the Gaines Street Corridor.
- The City of Tallahassee's Solid Waste Services (SWS) Administration building received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). It is the second municipal building in Florida and the first in North Florida to earn the distinction.
- New Jet Service from the Tallahassee Regional Airport provided by American Eagle to Miami opening connectivity to the Caribbean, South America, Europe and Western U.S.
- FedEx Regional Operations and Sorting Facility Complete and operational (FDOT's Project of the Year Award).
- Transmittal of the EAR amendments by the Planning Department (160 comprehensive plan policies addressing neighborhood protection of Wakulla Springs, transportation policies MMTD).
- Received a matching grant of $174,866 for the purchase of the Charles Billings Greenway property.
- Assisted local developer in obtaining $5,210,000 Community Workforce Housing Innovation Program grant (staff provided the innovative criteria necessary to receive the awarded grant).
- Tallahassee is recognized as one of only three cities (San Diego, CA and Henderson, NV) in the nation as having outstanding development review processes.
- The Building Inspection Division was awarded the highest honor a building department can receive -- national certification. Currently there are only six jurisdictions within the US that have achieved national certification.
- Tallahassee Fire Department Inspector, Maurice Majszak, received the 2008 Florida Fire Chief's Inspector of the year award.
- The Tallahassee Fire Department received an "outstanding" rating from the State Bureau of Emergency Medical Services on its annual compliance inspection, with no deficiencies noted.
- Tallahassee Fire Department Division Chief Andrea Jones received the 2008 Florida USAR Structural Technician Specialist Berkman Plaza Deployment Award.
- The Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Affairs Department's Parks Division received the First Place Award in the Florida Nurseryman Growers and Landscape Association's State Landscape Competition category of government landscape projects.
- Promising Practice Award was presented to City of Tallahassee Commission By the Collins Center for Public Policy / Council for Sustainable Florida for Energy Efficiency Initiative in acknowledgement of your commitment and support for creating a sustainable economic, environmental and social future for Florida.
- The City of Tallahassee Underground Utilities was awarded $2.65 million in environmental grants for the Advanced Wastewater Treatment project.
- The City of Tallahassee Wastewater Treatment Utility received the ISO 14001:2004 certification for its Environmental Management System, which is a milestone in the City's Go Green Initiative. This internationally recognized accomplishment not only helps protect our region's natural resources but places the City's wastewater utility as the first such facility in the state to receive the designation.
- The Water Utility received the National Association of Clean Water Agencies 2007 Peak Performance Award Silver Awards for the Thomas P. Smith Water Reclamation Facility and the Lake Bradford Road Wastewater Treatment Facility.
- The Water Utility received the 2007 Plant Operations Excellence Award for the Thomas P. Smith Water Reclamation Facility.
- The City of Tallahassee Utilities received the 2007 FMEA Outstanding Community Service Award.
- The City's Water Utility's 2007 Water Quality Report was chosen to represent Florida for the National Award, District 7.
- The City received the 2007 Outstanding Affordable Housing Project Award from the Florida Redevelopment Association for the City's role in the Goodbread Hill Affordable Housing Project.
- Marriott Residence Inn, 105-room hotel on Gaines Street, opened in 2007 represents a $12 million improvement.
- The Tallahassee Center, 105-unit condominium, opened in 2007, represents a $22 million improvement.
2006
- Tallahassee awarded Heart Ready Community Award by the American Heart Association for having Automated External Defibrillators in place for workers, visitors, and community wide needs.
- 2006 Outstanding Tennis Facility Award from USTA (United States Tennis Association) for the Forestmeadows Tennis Complex.
- Public Pension Coordinating Council Public Pension Standards Award for 2006 for the city's pension system.
- Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC) Architectural/Engineering and Construction (AEC) Award for 2006.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Excellence Award for the 2005 Water Quality Annual Report. This award recognizes water systems that demonstrate a commitment to go beyond compliance to foster exemplary public awareness and education.
- The Tallahassee Regional Airport was awarded a spot in the Airport News and Training Network's Airport Training and Safety Institute 2005 Hall of Fame. This is the third consecutive year the Airport has earned this prestigious honor.
- At the Florida Public Transportation Association's Annual Conference. StarMetro took more awards than any other Transit Organization in Florida walking away with Best Bus Safety Record, First place on New Exterior Bus Design for FSU, and first place on Best Internal Employee Communication.
- First place awards from the Florida Water Environment Association for safety achievements for both the Lake Bradford Road and T.P. Smith wastewater plants.
- Outstanding City Program (Urban) award from Recycle Florida Today, Inc.
- City of Tallahassee Solid Waste Services' "Survival Guide" awarded 1st Place, Franceschi Public Service Award. The Guide also was awarded a Gold ADDY, at the 45th Annual ADDY Awards 2006.
- Electric Lineman 2006 FMEA Competition (Florida). The Electric Utility team received eight overall awards including three first place and four second place finishes in individual events and one second place overall award.
- The Tennyson, 94-unit condominium, opened in 2006 represents $30 million improvement.