News Release

HRM Wins Provincial, National Awards

(Wednesday, May 31/2000)-- Halifax Regional Municipality has won two national and one provincial award for excellence in various categories.

The municipality will be presented with an "FCM-CH2M Hill Sustainable Community Award" at the national conference of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) in London, Ontario, this weekend. HRM was one of six regional winners across the country.

The award recognizes excellence in municipal service delivery that contributes to a sustainable future. The FCM supports sustainable development through its programs on climate protection, renewable energy, municipal building retrofits and transportation. CH2M Hill is one of North America's leading environmental service firms. The award is also supported through the Climate Change Action Fund.

HRM's submission focussed on its Solid Waste Resource Management Strategy, which prohibits the disposal of organic materials into the municipal landfill. This action has resulted in reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly methane gas.

Through aggressive residential and business source-separation and private partnerships for the diversion, collection and disposal of four separate solid waste streams, HRM has achieved nearly 50 per cent diversion of waste from its landfill after only one full year of operation. (HRM's per capita waste diversion compared to 1989 is more than 70 %.)

HRM has been awarded a Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA) Royal Bank certificate for its submission entitled, "Fiscal Accountability--Multi-Year Fiscal Strategy and Business Planning"

The submission, which details HRM's multi-year strategy to achieve and maintain financial stability and fiscal predictability, earned an Honourable Mention in the Willis Award for Innovation, population over 20,000 category.

The award will be presented to HRM tomorrow at CAMA's annual conference, being held in London, Ontario, this week.

Also, "The Mayor's Crosswalk Safety" campaign won a "Gemstone Award" last week from the Nova Scotia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of Canada.

Following the death in Halifax of a 15-year-old youth in a crosswalk two years ago, Mayor Walter Fitzgerald issued a public plea for greater public awareness of crosswalk safety within HRM

A national communications company based in Halifax, Corporate Communications Limited (CCL), responded to that plea and offered to research, plan and produce (pro bono) a complete media package to promote crosswalk safety within HRM.

The campaign included a dramatic television commercial using local children and actors; radio ads; newspaper ads; information pamphlets and other educational materials.

Traffic and Engineering officials, representatives of the Halifax Regional Police and the HRM Corporate Communications Office collaborated with CCL on the approach and content of the materials.

Mayor Fitzgerald said " I am delighted that the tremendous efforts of the Halifax Regional Municipality and so many of its programs are being recognized at the provincial and national levels. It gives me great pleasure to extend congratulations to all staff who were involved in these projects."

- 30-

John O'Brien
Corporate Communications Officer
(902) 490-6531