Customer Excellence Award
IT Department staff Andy Anderson, Elizabeth Sharp, and Becky Pope.
Greenville Utilities' Customer Cloud Service (CCS) Project Team won the Customer Excellence Award from industry peers in March during the Oracle Utility Users Group Conference. The Oracle Utilities Users Group (OUUG) is a global “for-users, by-users” support organization devoted to bringing together customers who use the Oracle Utilities systems.
The interdisciplinary CCS Project Team received this award based on several factors, but most notably is that GUC is among the first multi-service utilities to implement all four utilities on CCS. This was also the first time a new work and asset management system (Cityworks) was integrated with CCS, moving both systems to cloud based in the same timeframe.
The Project Team Co-Leaders were Becky Pope and Elizabeth Sharp with IT. The Project Team included Natalie O’Neal and Wendy Rogers (Electric), Paula Vinciguerra and Kenny Daniels (Meter), Lisa Johnson (Gas), Nikia Best-Manuel (Water), Denine Hardee (Billing), Juliet Telfair (Customer Relations/Call Center), Shannon Oakley (Customer Relations/Credit), Brian Weigand and Kim Coggins (Finance), and Courtney Basile, Robin Nichols, Michelle Edmundson, John Bartolotti, and Max Wu (IT).
"Smooth Operators" Make Waves in South Carolina
GUC's Smooth Operators team -- Adam Garris, Chris Hill, Bryon Orr, and Kyle Meeks
Greenville Utilities' Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) “Smooth Operators” swept the competition at the South Carolina Environmental Conference Operations Challenge in early March!
The conference was co-hosted by the Water Environment Association (WEF) of South Carolina and the South Carolina American Water Works Association. To showcase how wastewater treatment operators and technicians overcome challenges and emergencies, WEF has developed what is considered the industry’s most rigorous professional development program – the Operations Challenge. In order to compete at the national level, teams must perform well at the state-level competitions. The South Carolina conference hosts invited out-of-state teams to compete with them at their state conference (called an Invitational).
GUC’s 2024 “Smooth Operators” team includes Adam Garris, Chris Hill, Bryon Orr, and Kyle Meeks. They competed against 10 other wastewater teams from across the country and swept the competition! They came in 1st for Invitational (out-of-state teams), 2nd Overall, 1st in Safety, 2nd in Collections, 2nd in Maintenance, 3rd in Process Control, and 6th in Lab.
“This was a big win for us to go down and compete in one of the largest events held for the Operations Challenge across the nation and finish 1st in Invitational and 2nd Overall,” said Team Captain Bryon Orr. “It just goes to show that hard work pays off. We're thankful for our coworkers who help cover some of our daily duties while we’re out, so this team is truly bigger than just us four. It feels good to put GUC on the map for the Operations Challenge!”
Finance Receives National & State Awards
Finance Department staff
The Government Finance Officers' Association (GFOA) has once again presented our Finance Department with three awards for how they communicate financial information.
Finance received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the Fiscal Year 2023-24 budget book. This marks the 8th consecutive year GUC has earned this recognition. The purpose of this award is to encourage and assist governments in preparing budgets of the highest quality for the benefit of its citizens and stakeholders with a vital interest in the budget process. To win the award, our budget document met program criteria and excelled as the policy document, financial plan, operations guide, and communication tool.
At the end of a fiscal year, organizations prepare an Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) — a look back at the previous fiscal year. This is the 14th year Finance has earned a Certificate of Achievement in Financial Reporting for the ACFR. This award recognizes entities for going beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to prepare financial reports that show transparency and full disclosure.
The Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR) is a document designed to make an organization's ACFR easier to understand by people who do not have a finance or accounting background. GUC's PAFR was evaluated in five categories: reader appeal, understandability, distribution methods, creativity, and overall quality and usefulness. This is the 8th year in a row Finance has won the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting for its PAFR.
The GFOA advances excellence in government finance by providing best practices, professional development, resources, and practical research for more than 20,500 members and communities they serve.
For the 13th year in a row, the purchasing section of GUC's Finance Department received the Sustained Professional Purchasing Award (SPPA), presented by the Carolinas Association of Governmental Purchasing (CAGP). GUC is one of 15 member agencies in North Carolina and South Carolina to receive this designation for calendar year 2023.
To earn the award, GUC had to demonstrate its ability to meet the complex criteria and high standards for utilization of technology, minority outreach, staff certification, customer training, vendor training, and the use of recycled products.
Digital Campaign Leads to National Awards
GUC’s Public Information Office (Pub Info) received an Excellence in Public Power Communications award from the American Public Power Association (APPA). The award was in the print and digital category.
Awards were given to those who showed ingenuity and creativity in telling their stories through outstanding copy, design, graphics, social media engagement, and video editing. This is the first time GUC has won an award for the print and digital campaign category.
In 2022, GUC launched its first text notification system to inform customers about power outages around the clock. Rather than ask customers to go to the trouble of registering for the service, the decision was made to automatically opt-in customers who have already provided a mobile phone number to GUC.
Pub Info created a publicity campaign centered around two main goals: to motivate customers to update their information with a mobile number if they had not already, and to inform customers of the new system in an effort to keep opt-out numbers low once the outage texts began.
Water Treatment Plant Earns AWOP Award
For the 8th year in a row, our Water Treatment Plant has received the prestigious North Carolina Area Wide Optimization Award. Of the 157 water treatment plants in the state, the NC Division of Water Resources has included Greenville Utilities among the 72 honored for surpassing federal and state drinking water standards in 2022. The award is a state effort to enhance the performance of existing surface water treatment facilities.
In 1998, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed new regulations to reduce the risk of biological contamination. The EPA then partnered with states to form the Area Wide Optimization Program (AWOP). This program introduced more stringent water quality goals and helps water systems meet those goals. North Carolina has participated in AWOP since 2000 and is one of 29 states involved in the program.
Public Power Awards of Excellence
GUC earned Public Power Awards of Excellence in all five categories offered by ElectriCities. This is the eighteenth year in a row that GUC has received these awards.
The categories mirror the ElectriCities strategic priorities and include:
Future-focused - Recognizing communities that develop a future-focused mindset
Strengthen Public Power - Celebrating communities that build public and political support for public power
Provide Superior Power - Highlighting communities that deliver reliable, affordable, and sustainable electric power
Customer-centered Innovation - Celebrating public power providers that innovate and invest to better serve their customers and communities
People - Recognizing cities and towns that leverage their people as their greatest asset
ElectriCities is an organization that represents cities, towns, and universities that own their electric distribution systems. Greenville Utilities is a member of ElectriCities, along with more than 90 other members in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
Public Information Receives Statewide Communications Award
GUC’s Public Information Team won an Excellence in Communications Award from the North Carolina City & County Communicators (NC3C). Their video “Rising Natural Gas Prices” was awarded second place in the Public Service Announcement category. The video used animation to educate GUC customers about rising natural gas prices worldwide and their effect on customer prices. It also informed customers about how GUC keeps costs as low as possible and encouraged customers to save money by conserving their home energy use.
The video played on GUC-TV channel 35 and the City’s cable channel GTV-9 throughout the winter, as well as social media and in the lobbies of our office buildings. The video was part of a larger campaign to educate and inform our customers about winter energy savings.
NC3C is an association of city and county communications professionals from across the state.
Finance Receives National & State Awards
The Government Finance Officers' Association (GFOA) has once again presented Greenville Utilities Commission three awards for how it communicates financial information.
GUC received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget book. This marks the seventh consecutive year GUC has earned this recognition. The purpose of this award is to encourage and assist governments in preparing budgets of the highest quality for the benefit of its citizens and stakeholders with a vital interest in the budget process. To win the award, our budget document met program criteria and excelled as the policy document, financial plan, operations guide, and communication tool.
At the end of a fiscal year, organizations prepare an Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) — a look back at the previous fiscal year. This is the 13th year GUC has earned a Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting for the ACFR. This award recognizes entities for going beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to prepare financial reports that show transparency and full disclosure.
The Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR) is a document designed to make an organization's ACFR easier to understand by people who do not have a finance or accounting background. GUC's PAFR was evaluated in five categories: reader appeal, understandability, distribution methods, creativity, and overall quality and usefulness. This is the seventh year in a row GUC has won the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting for its PAFR.
The GFOA advances excellence in government finance by providing best practices, professional development, resources, and practical research for more than 20,500 members and communities they serve.
For the 12th year in a row, the purchasing section of GUC's Finance Department received the Sustained Professional Purchasing Award (SPPA), presented by the Carolinas Association of Governmental Purchasing (CAGP). GUC is one of 15 member agencies in North Carolina and South Carolina to receive this designation for calendar year 2022.
To earn the award, GUC had to demonstrate its ability to meet the complex criteria and high standards for utilization of technology, minority outreach, staff certification, customer training, vendor training, and the use of recycled products.
CAGP is a professional non-profit organization devoted to improvements in governmental purchasing, the exchange of ideas, promoting procurements rules and procedures, professional development, and purchasing certification through its affiliation with the UNC School of Government. Earning this award reflects GUC's commitment to conducting business in both a professional and ethical manner.
Congratulations to the Finance Department on these outstanding awards! These accomplishments reflect the professionalism and commitment of all the divisions in the Finance Department. It also reflects a high degree of dedication and leadership on the part of our Board of Commissioners.
NCWOA Awards
Several of GUC’s Water Resources employees were recognized by the NC Waterworks Operators Association (NCWOA).
Cheryl Irwin, Water Treatment Plant Laboratory Technician II, was presented the 2021 NCWOA Laboratory Analyst of the Year Award in appreciation of her outstanding work as a laboratory analyst for GUC and service to NCWOA.
WTP Operator III Sharon Daughtridge, WTP Maintenance Mechanic III Don Sullivan, Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator III Julius Phillips, and Environmental Control Officer Deanna Castellow became NCWOA life members.
The NCWOA has been the premier trainer of waterworks professionals in North Carolina since 1939. Their volunteers are industry leaders who provide certification schools and continuing education opportunities.
Water Environment Federation Challenge
Our Water Resources “Smooth Operators” competed at the Water Environment Federation (WEF) sanctioned Operations Challenge competition. This event is designed to test the diverse skills required for the operation and maintenance of wastewater facilities, collection systems, and laboratories. WWTP (Wastewater Treatment Plant) Operators Bryon Orr, Julius Phillips, Kyle Meeks, Charlie Buck, and Steve Hedgepeth competed at the “Carolina Nationals Brawl at the Beach 7” in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The events included Collections (aka pipe tapping), Lab, Safety, Pump Maintenance, and Process Control. Our team came in 1st in Pump Maintenance, 2nd in the Collections event, and 4th Overall.