ISSUE No. 9/1999

Blagoevgrad Municipality Received A First Place SAVVY Award For Service Improvement

On September 24, 1999, the City/County Communications and Marketing Association (3CMA), based in Washington, DC, awarded the Municipality of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, a first place Savvy Award for service improvement, at an awards luncheon ceremony attended by over 500 U.S. local government officials. The ceremony was held at the Marriott Hotel in Portland, Oregon, as the culminating event of 3CMA's annual conference held Sept. 22-24.

Nearly 800 U.S. local governments entered the 1999 Savvy competitions, which recognize innovations in local government. Judges in the Services category awarded Blagoevgrad a special "international Savvy award" in recognition of the city's use of technology to improve service to citizens. They noted that Blagoevgrad -- which competed against U.S. municipalities, county governments and other local government authorities -- had overcome barriers unknown to U.S. local governments to achieve outstanding results with limited financial resurces. "Blagoevgrad's focus on the citizen is a model for us all," 3CMA executive director Richard Lillquist said.

3CMA president Audrey Griffies of the City of Marietta, Georgia, noted in her remarks at the Savvy Awards luncheon, that the work Bulgarian local governments and journalists are doing is an inspiration to all 3CMA members. A delegation of 12 Bulgarian journalists and municipal government communication and public relations professionals participated in the 1999 3CMA annual conference under the sponsorship of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The team told the story of Bulgaria's emerging democracy at a conference panel session entitled, "On the Edge in an Emerging Democracy."

Over 60 people attended the Bulgarian team's session focused on the challenges local governments and journalists face and progress they have made, including the introduction of the Access to Public Information Act and improved systems for involving citizens in local government decisions. The session culminated in a lively discussion of journalists' rights and journalists' and government officials' practices.

Becky Gadell, representing the USAID-sponsored Local Government Initiative of Bulgaria, shared the story of the Bulgarian Local Government Customer Service Team during the conference in a panel session on "One-Stop Customer Service". She stressed not only the progress that Blagoevgard and other cities have made but their commitment to long-term improvement. "Lasting change that focuses on citizens as partners take time. Service centers,

technology improvements are steps that -- at the core -- boils down to attitude change," she said. "The attitude demonstrated by Blagoevgrad and other cities on the Customer Service Team is no different than the attitude of progressive U.S. local governments. They know that governments that listen to citizens and involve them in service decisions are the governments that make significant progress in economic development and other areas critical to people no matter where they live."