city beat: the week of October 3, 2011

The City of Rocky Mount

the week of October 3, 2011

Greetings!

Thanks for your interest in receiving news from the City of Rocky Mount. Our weekly newsletter provides many ways by which you can be engaged in the Rocky Mount community. You'll find all the details in each week's issue of city beat!

We invite you to take part in the events featured in this email and to review Rocky Mount's community calendar here:

http://www.reachoutrockymount.org/calendar.php

Have an event to share? Submit it here!

Celebrating Public Power & Public

Natural Gas Week

Rocky Mount Public Utilities is celebrating Public Power and Public Natural Gas Week October 2-8. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Public Power Week and the 20th anniversary of Public Natural Gas Week. During this week, we celebrate the value of public utility service to our community.

Rocky Mount Public Utilities (RMPU) is proud to serve the citizens of Rocky Mount with locally-owned and locally-operated electric and natural gas services. This is an opportunity for the community to celebrate the advantages provided by locally owned and operated utilities, including fast responses to outages, excellent customer service, and employees who live in the community.

With its focus on customers, public power and public natural gas are hometown traditions that help the local economy and provide a reliable energy supply for the community.

As part of the celebration for Public Power and Public Natural Gas Week, RMPU is sponsoring the BBQ Bash concert featuring Chairmen of the Board on Friday, October 7th from 6 pm - 8 pm. This concert is in conjunction with the Eastern Carolina BBQ Throw Down being held October 7-8 in downtown Rocky Mount. Rocky Mount Public Utilities will also have electric and natural gas safety demonstrations on Friday, October 7th from 3 pm until 9 pm. This event is free to the public and all customers are invited to come and celebrate.

More information on the schedule of events of the Eastern Carolina BBQ Throw Down can be found on the event's website here.

October is Disability Awareness Month

The Mayor's Commission on Persons with Disabilities calls on the Rocky Mount community to celebrate Disability Awareness throughout the month of October. The purpose of the Mayor's Commission on Persons with Disabilities is to serve as a formal and continuing means by which the community may be made aware of the needs and abilities of the disabled, to encourage the involvement of the disabled in the daily activities of the community by promoting their gainful employment, removing architectural barriers, and by acting as an educational, public relations and advisory agency to both individual disabled citizens and the community at large to the end that the skills of all our citizens are used to the fullest extent.

For more information, please feel free to contact the City of Rocky Mount's Human Relations Department at 972-1184.

Mayor's Commission - 2011

Members of the Mayor's Commission on Persons with Disabilities join Rocky Mount Mayor David W. Combs in signing a proclamation declaring that October is Disability Awareness Month in Rocky Mount.

First row: Allen Mitchell, Mayor David W. Combs, and Jessica Levy

Second row: Mary Fryar, Jennifer Brooks, Curtis Dew, Priscilla Whitakers, Katrina Pringle and Lee Gaskins

City Employees Honored for Assisting Fire Victim

On the morning of July 29, Rocky Mount Public Works employee Jason Moore and Rocky Mount Parks and Recreation employees Chad Garbrandt, Ahmad Harrell, and J.R. Perry were near the intersection of Thorpe Road and Independence Drive when they noticed smoke and flames at the Harrison Family YMCA. After arming themselves with fire extinguishers, these brave employees went to the scene of the fire where they found a worker and a piece of industrial equipment on fire. The employees extinguished the fire and assisted the victim until emergency personnel arrived.

To honor these employees for their brave acts, Mayor David W. Combs and the Rocky Mount City Council recognized the four men at a recent City Council meeting and approved a resolution recognizing their heroic acts.

From left to right: Chad Garbrandt, Ahmad Harrell,

Mayor David W. Combs, J.R. Perry and Jason Moore.

City Receives Five Public Power

Awards of Excellence

Five awards were presented during the Rocky Mount City Council meeting on Monday, September 26. Graham Edwards, Chief Executive Officer of ElectriCities, was in attendance to make the presentation. The City of Rocky Mount received awards in the areas of creating a competitive business environment, energy efficiency, financial stability, legislative involvement, and service excellence. The 2011 NC Public Power Awards of Excellence reward outstanding efforts in each of these key areas.

The Competitive Business Environment Award recognizes efforts by the city to create a strong business climate, including economic development planning and community/ regional partnering, as well as a focus on key accounts customers.

The Energy Efficiency Award recognizes efforts by the city with energy-efficient building programs, energy education, energy audits and weatherization programs.

The Financial Stability Award recognizes customer option throughout the billing process, including alternate payment methods such as online billing and payment, and acceptance of debit and credit card payments. This award also recognizes community partnerships to help customers in need and the implementation of new technology within the electric system.

The Legislative Involvement Award recognizes city staff and officials' involvement in the legislative process on issues pertaining to public power.

The Service Excellence Award recognizes outstanding efforts by the city to communicate with customers through newsletters, online resources, social media or other community-based methods. The award also addresses emergency communications and community public power celebrations.

Rocky Mount Public Utilities prides itself on being a reliable and customer-focused public power provider.

"Being recognized by ElectriCities with the 2011 NC Public Power Awards of Excellence is attributed to the dedication of our employees and the great work they do every day for the City. We are honored to receive these awards and proud for the City of Rocky Mount and all of our employees," said Richard Worsinger, Director of Utilities.