Fairborn up for two awards

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Fairborn Daily Herald

FAIRBORN — Cinco De Mayo may prove to be a very good day for the City of Fairborn because on May 5 the city could possibly be honored with two awards: the Technology First 2016 Dayton Area Outstanding Technology Team Award, and the 2016 Dayton Area Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) PRism Award in Community Relations.

Formerly the Greater Dayton IT Alliance, the Technology First award is presented to an IT department that has impacted the efficiency, productivity and performance of their company. In the past year, the Fairborn IT Division reduced contract costs and successfully implemented advanced systems resulting in over $75,000 savings, annually, while increasing service capacity by more than 500 percent.

The City of Fairborn ITS division is comprised of three full-time and one part-time staff members: Information Technology Services Manager Mark Neuman, System Administrator Joey Lakins, Network and Telecommunications Administrator Jon Petty and IT Technician Thai Doh.

“It is quite an honor to even be nominated for such a prestigious award,” said Newman. “To the best of my knowledge, there has never even been a City ITS team nominated. It is a great testament to the hard work and dedication that all of the ITS team members show daily that we are recognized as a leader in the Dayton region as the Outstanding Tech Team.”

Other nominees for this award include Speedway, Midmark, NetGain and Taylor Communications.

The second award, the Dayton Area PRSA PRism Awards in the Community Relations category, is presented to entries where communication between an organization and its community has resulted in a strengthened relationship. The specific project submitted by the Fairborn Public Relations office involved citizen input and the recently negotiated trash and recycling contract with Waste Management. It was through repeated media notifications, utilization of the utility bill and social media that the city was able to reach its residents to participate in an online or print questionnaire, which helped identify residential needs for trash and recycling pick-up.

This particular project was a team effort of the Assistant City Manager Pete Bales, Public Relations Specialist Katie Lewallen and support staff.

“For three years now, a project has been submitted by the Public Relations office, and for three years the city will be recognized for doing an award-winning job at communicating with its residents,” said Lewallen. “The city will either be presented an Award of Merit or the PRism award. It is also very exciting and gratifying knowing that we are judged by an organization in another city in another state. This helps to validate that we are doing everything we can to communicate information as well as request from our citizens.”

This award is based on a graded point system and is not a competition with other entries. The city has previously won a Dayton Area PRSA Award of Merit in 2014 and a Dayton Area PRSA PRism Award in 2015.

Story courtesy of the City of Fairborn.

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