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Town presented with ‘Top 10’ award
, Staff Writer
03-08-2010
The Virginia Institute of Government has recognized the Town of Pulaski with its “Top 10” award for assisting fellow localities through participation in VIG’s E-mail Broadcast Information Service (EBIS).
According to Tedd E. Povar, associate director of VIG and creator of the EBIS, VIG has been presenting the Top 10 award for about a decade to recognize localities for “consistent” contributions to the service over the years.
The town was presented the award in February at the Virginia Local Government Management Association Winter Meeting held in Charlottesville.
Mayor Jeff Worrell symbolically presented the award to Assistant Town Manager David Quesenberry Tuesday night, noting that Quesenberry typically handles EBIS requests and responses for the town.
Povar said EBIS is an online information sharing service for local government managers across Virginia. Its purpose is to facilitate communications between local governmental bodies so that they may seek advice “in a timely fashion.”
The free service is a “perk” of VIG membership. Only members can submit inquiries on the service, but any locality can respond to the inquiry.
He said the system, started in 1997, “has been successful primarily because localities like Pulaski voluntarily provide answers to the questions we post throughout the years. The awards have been given out now for about 10 years.
“Virginia is blessed with very collegial and professional city, county, and town administrators (who) understand the value of working with each other for the betterment of all.”
To use the system, a member government official e-mails a request for information or assistance to Povar. The question is then e-mailed to more than 220 local governments in Virginia. Responses are entered into the database record, and then transmitted to the original inquirer.
Povar said responses usually begin coming in within minutes of inquiry posting.
The service includes more than 3,000 different topics, and new topics are added at a rate of 200 - 250 per year, Povar said. Nearly all inquiries receive responses.
