1999 Outstanding Award Winners

Public Awareness/Public Participation

World War II Oral History Program (Rowan County)

Volunteers and library staff interviewed more than 100 county residents to record and transcribe the memories of this world-changing event.

Hazardous Waste Education and Management Program (Buncombe County)

The comprehensive education focuses on both industry and residents and uses in-home consultations, a hotline, public school presentations, flyers, hazardous materials spills training exercises, and a mobile environmental learning center with interactive exhibits.

Southeast Regional On-Site Wastewater Training Center (Brunswick County)

Using only a $10,000 and all volunteer labor, Brunswick County and its partners built nine septic tanks systems on the grounds of the county government complex to serve as a training center for the proper selection, installation, operation of these systems. The site serves as a training center for staff from 10 counties and has become the premiere training site in Southeastern North Carolina.

Human Services

Dental Program (Dare County)

The county started this program because so many uninsured and Medicaid children with serious dental problems were being left untreated. The county found a retired dentist willing to work two days a week for six months out of the year. The county uses a mobile unit to the school so parents do not have to worry about transportation. Parents are notified by flyer about the dates the mobile dental unit will be at the school and sign their children up for appointments. The parents fill out the necessary paperwork and a dental assistant makes sure the child gets to the mobile unit and then back to class.

L.E.G.A.C.Y. Program (Forsyth County)

LEGACY is an acronym for "Learning Through Employment to be Giving and Caring for Your Child." It is designed to assist non-custodial parents become more financially responsible for their children and develop stronger emotional ties with them. Numerous agencies were involved including the county attorney, department of social services and non-profits such as the Urban League. The program included testing and job placement. More than 100 absent parents became employed full-time through this program.

Paramedic Initial Response (Orange County)

As part of a strategic planning process, the county emergency medical services program was restructured to make the system a patient-outcome one instead of solely response-time based. Four major steps had to be taken.

• Dispatches had to be accomplished through a prioritization system known as Emergency Medial Dispatch.
• Paramedics were taken off ambulances and placed in zone cares known as Initial Response Vehicles.
• An early responder program had to be in place for acute calls.
• A patient transportation component had to be developed.

Paramedics are empowered to offer patients alternatives to going to the hospital in an ambulance and to refuse to provide transportation to patients who do not require follow-up treatment at the hospital.

General Government

Functional Consolidation of County Fire Protection System (New Hanover County)

After a study by a consultant, the county decided to undertake a "functional consolidation" of its various departments. In a functional consolidation, each department retains its individual identity and a certain amount of autonomy, but concedes to cooperate with the others on certain functions. So far a number of functions have been centralized and groups are working on a set of standard operating guidelines and a single system-wide strategic plan. The result has been improved fire protection services, decreased response times, consistent administration and budgeting, cooperative planning and improved accountability.

Methane to Energy (Catawba County)

The county contracted with a private firm to extract methane gas from closed landfill sites, which allowed the industry to qualify for energy tax credits. The county avoided spending $2.5 million in gas extraction infrastructure which instead it has used to purchase methane gas powered engines that are coupled with generators to produce electricity. The county is selling the electricity to Duke Energy. Catawba County anticipates purchasing another three generators and selling another $7.1 million in electricity over the next 10 years. The county expects that revenue from this project to keep tipping fees at the current rate for the next 10 years.

Correctional Center (Avery and Mitchell Counties)

The two counties realized that they had to work together to attract industry and bolster their economic base. As a first step they purchased 197 acres of land on the boundary of the two counties. The first 97 acres were deeded to a private company for a privately operated prison. The other 100 acres were deed to the state of North Carolina for a state prison. The private prison employs 166 people with an annual payroll or $4. The state facility opened in October 199 and will expand in the near future. That prison will employ around 340 people and have an annual payroll of $9.7 million. The two counties bore the cost of buying the land for $210,000. The Town of Spruce Pine served as the applicant for funding to secure water and sewer at a cost of $900,536.