Williamson County’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) received top honors in the 2011 GovFresh Awards  Best Use of Social Media in Emergency Management category, along with runner up rankings among both Social Media and Public Servant of the Year entries. 

 The 2011 GovFresh Awards (GFAs) honor the most innovative citizen and city and local government technology projects of the year.  The awards provide city and local government better visibility into best practices and emerging technology.  The online submission process allowed for posting and sharing of civic technology projects and the people who developed them through the year.  A panel of eleven industry leaders judged the entries and presented the Williamson County Office of Emergency Management awards in three categories;  Best Use of Social Media in Emergency Management,  Best Use of Social Media, and Public Servant of the Year.

For its efforts in the Best Use of Social Media in Emergency Management, the Williamson County OEM placed first, edging out New York City.  During the 2011 Central Texas wild fires, the OEM’s efforts proved to be very successful at reaching the residents of the affected areas.  They were able to address home protection concerns, ongoing wild fire activity with recommended evacuations and shelter openings along with information on lending assistance to fire victims.  The number of followers on both Facebook and Twitter increased dramatically during the fires, allowing for interaction with citizens, as well as serving as a catalyst for sending out preparedness tips.

In the category for Social Media use, Williamson County tied with Philadelphia for top honors.  By utilizing tools such as RSS, Facebook and Twitter, the Office of Emergency Management is able to get messages out to more people and thus further educate the public regarding current events and breaking news around the county.

Williamson County’s Mackenzie Kelly, Office of Emergency Management, was named this year’s runner up for GFA’s Public Servant of the Year.  One of Mackenzie’s most recognized accomplishments was championing the use of social media for the Office of Emergency Management.  Her efforts to engage the community through social media proved invaluable during the September Texas wild fire disaster that affected Bastrop, Travis and Williamson counties.  Ms. Kelly also serves as a volunteer firefighter with the Jollyville Fire Department and communication director for the CERT (Certified Emergency Response Team) Board with the City of Austin.  GovFresh Awards cites Ms. Kelly’s selfless and tireless efforts to serve the community have been an inspiration to everyone who have seen her do what she is passionate about. She loves serving her community and hopefully her story can be an inspiration for others to do the same.’

                To view Emergency Management’s award-winning social media sites, click here: http://www.facebook.com/preparingwilco 
http://www.twitter.com/preparingwilco

Learn how you can protect your home through the Texas Forest Service’s The Ready, Set, Go! Program.  It teaches individuals who live in high risk wildfire areas and the wildland-urban-interface (WUI) how to best prepare themselves and their properties against fire threats.  Ready, Set, Go! works in complimentary and collaborative fashion with Firewise and other existing wildland fire public education efforts.  It amplifies their messages to individuals to better achieve the common goal we all share of fire-adapted communities.  For more information, go to