Eugene Garners Health and Safety Awards
Healthiest Employer Award: For the fourth year in a row, the City of Eugene was named one of Oregon's top 10 healthiest employers of its size by the Portland Business Journal. The mission of the Healthiest Employer Program is to reward companies which demonstrate innovation and leadership in their workplace wellness initiatives. Organizations were assessed in six key categories: culture and leadership commitment; foundational components; strategic planning; communications and marketing; programming and interventions, and reporting and analysis.
LOC/CIS Safety Award: The City of Eugene was presented with the top safety award at the 2013 League of Oregon Cities (LOC) annual conference. The award is a joint recognition from LOC and Citycounty Insurance Services (CIS). This year CIS created a separate category for large employers and the City of Eugene was the first large employer to receive the Gold Safety Award, which is given to the employer with the lowest injury frequency rate.
For more information, contact Risk Services Director Myrnie Daut, Central Services Department, at 541-682-5790.
Staff Team Wins “Award of Merit” for Eugene@150 Celebration
City staff who planned and implemented last year’s celebration of Eugene’s150th anniversary received an Award of Merit from the Public Relations Society of America Portland Chapter at a ceremony on Oct. 17. The award recognizes those who have “raised the standards of public relations through the use of successful tactics, campaigns and programs.”
Events of the four-month celebration coordinated by the staff team included a kickoff party downtown; the creation and installation of a Blue Heron public art sculpture dedicated to the anniversary; creation and playing of the Passport to History game that asked children to find historical structures around town for a chance to win a prize; walking, biking and driving tours of historical buildings; presentations on historical topics at the Eugene Public Library, development of an interactive map of historical places and a “Eugene@150Places” app for iPhone; writing and producing a video curriculum of Eugene’s history for fourth graders; a commemorative brewing of a “Commonwealth” beer; and a birthday celebration
that included a procession to downtown Eugene, cakes decorated with images of historical buildings, and the singing of “Happy Birthday.”
The anniversary celebration planned by the City staff team was truly a community event. The team invited residents to put on their own events under the umbrella of the Eugene@150 mission and logo and asked: “What’s your 150?” As a result, dozens of resident-organized events complemented those planned by the staff team.
Members of the staff team pictured are: Billie Moser, Kathy Madison (both Library, Recreation and Cultural Services [LRCS]) and Jan Bohman (Central Services/City Manager’s Office [CS/CMO]). Other staff team members included Karina Fon and Matt McRae (CS/CMO); LaVena Nohrenberg, Tom Powers and Isaac Marquez (LRCS); Eric Jones, Kim Mast, Jeffrey Flowers and Lorna Baldwin (Public Works), and Laura Hammond, Becky Taylor, Nancy Young, and Steven Ochs (Planning and Development Department).
For more information, contact Jan Bohman at 541-682-5587.