LANSING, Mich. -- The Washtenaw County Road Commission was recently presented a 'CRAMmy Award' for outstanding public relations initiatives and creative communications efforts throughout 2006, during the County Road Association of Michigan (CRAM) Annual Highway Conference that took place in Lansing on March 6-8, 2006. The CRAMmy Awards were designed to share successful communication and public relations techniques among the 83 county road commissions. Washtenaw County was one of four road commissions to receive this award; the other three counties were Kalamazoo, Mecosta and Monroe.
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- "The CRAMmy Awards recognize the importance of providing road-related information in unique and memorable ways," said John Niemela, CRAM's Director. "The CRAMmys acknowledge and encourage excellence and creativity among our member agencies."
The County Road Association of Michigan represents the 83 county road agencies that work to keep 90,040 miles of Michigan's roads safe and convenient. CRAM is also working to secure adequate resources for Michigan's transportation needs.
Over the past several years, the Washtenaw County Road Commission has been enhancing its communications with area residents, media representatives, and public officials, in an effort to meet the desires of Washtenaw County citizens to receive current and timely information related to road activities. These public outreach efforts have also been made to promote greater openness and transparency in the road agency's decision-making process, and to provide plenty of opportunities for the public to share their concerns and offer input on road improvement projects.
In 2006 specifically, the Road Commission increased its public relations activities and communications efforts by conducting and/or directly participating in over 35 community forums, public information meetings, public hearings and training programs. The WCRC staff also increased project updates with local officials, and township and county planning groups throughout the year, meeting with them on a monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly basis, met with local legislators to discuss pending transportation legislation and funding issues, and issued innumerable media releases, public notices and postings to its WCRC website, in order to continually update citizens on the progress of road projects.
In addition, the Road Commission extended its efforts to engage the public in the successful conclusion of projects by including them in the official reopening/ribbon-cutting ceremonies. There were two major projects for which a special completion ceremony was held last year; the Holmes Road, Phase I project and the new Dixboro Road Bridge. The ceremonies were attended by area residents, local officials, contractors, and Road Commission representatives.
These special community forums and public events were conducted in addition to the day-to-day meetings routinely held with individual citizens, developers and other customers, as well as the 96,700 emails and 2,146 service requests that were received and to which staff responded during the past year.
A summary of the agency's year-long public relations efforts was compiled in a newly created "Annual Customer Service Report," which depicts the overall agency-wide public relations initiatives for 2006 and detailed explanations of the information-sharing meetings and various outreach activities with community leaders, media representatives and other stakeholders. The report was officially presented to the Board of County Road Commissioners during their Board meeting on November 21, 2006.
"We recognize the value and importance of communicating with our customers on the need for road improvements, and in providing the public with insight into why road agencies do what they do. We find it extremely helpful to be able to describe a project in the development stage, to explain the benefits the public will receive when the road improvements are completed, and respond to the questions and concerns of area residents and elected officials before a project gets underway," explained Road Commission Managing Director Steve Puuri.
"We are very pleased to receive this prestigious award from CRAM for our Customer Service Report and public outreach initiatives last year; it is our intention to continue our enhanced communications activities and to provide ample public engagement opportunities for our many customers and stakeholders during each construction season," concluded Puuri.