Zachary Wins LMA Community Achievement Award

Posted by zachary on August 25, 2022

The City of Zachary was the statewide winner of the Louisiana Municipal Association's "Community Achievement Award." This prestigious competition recognizes municipalities for outstanding projects promoting progress in municipal services and operations during the 2021 calendar year. The award was announced at the LMA Annual Conference in Lafayette on Saturday, July 30th.  

The name of the project, "City of Zachary Transition Guide," is a fully functional "cross-walk document" or template for traversing Zachary's Municipal Government. It was submitted under the “Basic Services” category.  This category identifies the nature of the submittal as being in the best interest of the entire Zachary community.

During the fall of 2021, with his decision not to seek re-election following three (3) terms in office, Mayor David Amrhein began sharing his thoughts on developing a transition guide. The mayor's commitment to this project was to have the completed document prepared in time for the 2022 general election. The project's intent was for a presentation to the candidate who would succeed him as mayor in 2022. Citing his experiences in early 2011 when first taking office and in the years since served as Mayor Amrhein's inspiration for this document's creation.  

All accolades go to the city staff who were instrumental in making this happen, including Chris Calbert, former CAO and "hire-back," who guided the project to its fruition. Work began in December 2021 and included 332 pages of text. It starts with an introductory letter from Mayor Amrhein, his pledge for a smooth and seamless transition of authority, and his successor's offer of aid and assistance. A total of sixty-five (65) bound and hard-spined copies will be printed and distributed to the new mayor and administration, city council members, and the city's department heads. The remaining copies will be held on reserve and used as shared documents for guidance by municipalities having similar needs. The total project print cost will be $2,989.20.  

"These costs are minimal when considering the far-ranging effects of heightened public awareness through access to municipality policies, procedures, and processes that will benefit Zachary citizens for years to come. The project offers a transparent and "deep-dive" into daily operations and services provided to Zachary's citizens," says Mayor David Amrhein.  

"Continuing the Progress with an Eye Toward the Future. Our future is here and now, and how we handle it determines our tomorrow".

Chris Calbert