The Pasco County Public Works Department and the Public Information Office (PIO) were recently honored by their peers with separate awards for the July/August 2015 Flooding event in Pasco County.

 Pasco County Public Works received two awards for repairing damaged roads during the July 2015 areal flooding event and for repairing a collapsed drainage pipe. The awards were presented by the American Public Works Association – Florida West Coast Branch.

The Public Works Department received ‘Project of the Year – Disaster or Emergency Construction/Repair’ for the Majestic Boulevard project. Road and Bridge received the ‘Technical and Management Innovation Award.’ Public Works responded to hundreds of flooding reports. Approximately 66 lane miles of local roads experienced moderate to severe damage at an estimated repair cost in excess of $15 million.

The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council honored Pasco County’s Public Information Office at the annual Future of the Region Awards banquet in St. Petersburg on April 22, 2016. The Planning Council awarded the Public Information Office second place for Community Preparedness in the response to the July/August 2015 flooding event.

Public Information Officer Doug Tobin was joined by County Administrator Michele Baker and  eight other employees who participated in the Joint Information Center (JIC) during the July/August 2015 flood event. In all, 51 people worked in the JIC during the flood event, generating 49 press releases, 52 media alerts, 10 press conferences and 4 media tours.

The Pasco Public Information Office utilized several contingency plans in the PIO Emergency Operations Plan to help keep the public informed of potential flooding, cleanup efforts and sandbag operations. The plan also enlisted mutual aid to get additional PIO resources from the Tampa Bay Region and the Florida Fire Chief’s PIO Deployment Team.

The first place award for Community Preparedness went to the University of Florida, IFAS Extension for a study titled ‘Recommended Projection of Sea Level Rise in the Tampa Bay Region.’

See more details of the PIO award entry at the following link:

http://www.pascocountyfl.net/DocumentCenter/View/24618

See more details of the Public Works award entry at the following link:

http://www.pascocountyfl.net/DocumentCenter/View/24572

http://www.pascocountyfl.net/DocumentCenter/View/24573