Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 18, 1994                   TAG: 9403180234
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

BLACKSBURG FINALIST FOR SENATORS' AWARD

The United States Senate Productivity and Quality Award for Virginia was established in 1982 by a U.S. Senate resolution. It is given to local, state and federal services and agencies in both the private and public sectors that have demonstrated quality and improvement in their productivity.

The finalists were selected from 29 applicants in four categories. Blacksburg is a finalist for the award in the Public Sector Local Agency category along with Chesterfield County, Virginia Beach, Danville Public Schools and Portsmouth Public Schools.

Blacksburg, a finalist for the 1991 award, was judged in February by a visiting team from the Virginia Quality and Productivity Center. Town employees made presentations that showed Blacksburg's improvement in several areas, said assistant town manager Bonnie Svrcek.

One employee team presented information showing the town's improvement in leaf collection, another group worked on bettering the town's internal fleet services, and another team worked on saving costs on health insurance for town employees. The town also developed a new employee evaluation process for bus drivers and launched a "Citizens First" campaign.

"I think this [nomination] distinguishes us as a municipality that focuses on productivity and continuous quality improvement," said Svrcek. "No matter the outcome, we consider ourselves winners."

An awards banquet will be held April 14 at 7 p.m. at the Radisson Mark Plaza Hotel in Alexandria. Sens. John Warner and Charles Robb are scheduled to present the awards.