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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 16, 1994                   TAG: 9404180137
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

SENATE AWARD AN HONOR FOR BLACKSBURG

A birthday? Taking a day off from the rigors of town management, you ask? Au contraire - a celebration was in order after the town was named a winner of the U.S. Senate Productivity and Quality Award for Virginia the night before in Alexandria.

Blacksburg is the first local government to win in the award's 11 years of existence.

The town was a finalist for the award two years ago, but came up short. This year, Blacksburg emerged victorious in the Public Sector Local Agency category, tying with Danville Public Schools. Also in the competition were the governments of Virginia Beach and Chesterfield County, and Portsmouth Public Schools.

Secrist was all smiles when he entered a meeting room across from his office where an impromptu party crowd of town staffers, council members and newly-appointed Chief of Police Bill Brown were waiting.

Later, he said Blacksburg was recognized for its management style in which employees of all levels discuss ways to improve the quality of their work, and management is open to those ideas. The idea of bottom-to-top management as opposed to the other way around is growing in business and industry.

"Employment empowerment" is how Secrist termed it. Specifically, the town was recognized for its efforts in leaf collection, customer service in the planning and engineering departments, and other projects.

While the award brings with it no money, "what I hope it means is a recognition to the citizens of the community [that the town] is working very hard to meet their needs.

"We're not perfect, but we are always going to work to do better," for the citizens, Secrist said.

Several town employees accompanied Secrist to Alexandria, where the awards were presented by Sens. Charles Robb, D-Va., and John Warner, R-Va.

The delegation included a planner, a horticulturist, a bus driver and others - all representative of the people who make the town run efficiently, Secrist said. One of them was Bill Woolwine, foreman of the street department with the town's Public Works Department.

"You should've seen ol' Bill up there with Warner and Robb" as he accepted the awards and shook hands with the senators, exclaimed Secrist moments before the party cut into the cake.

In yellow icing, read the message: "Congratulations #1."