The city of Lake Forest has won three awards in recent months for its initiatives on financial reporting, recycling and its app for mobile devices.
At Monday’s City Council meeting, officials reported the city has won the Popular Annual Financial Report award from the Government Finance Officers Association.
“This award is bestowed upon units of government who successfully develop high-quality popular annual financial reports that are designed to be readily accessible and easily understandable to the public,” city spokeswoman Dana Olson said.
Lake Forest previously won two separate GFAO awards, With the latest, the city joins other Illinois municipalities such as Northbrook and Woodstock in winning the GFAO “Triple Crown.”
“This is a massive achievement,” Mayor George Pandaleon said.
This award followed a previous city achievement in winning the Excellence in Marketing Tools for Government Service Delivery award from the national City-County Communications and Marketing Association for its mobile application.
Olson said in October that since the app went live last year, there have been more than 4,000 downloads, and the app averages 4,400 clicks per month.
While pleased with the content now offered on the app, Olson told the City Council enhancements are being planned, specifically keeping up to date with push notifications.
“We are looking to refresh the feel for the app, and make sure we are staying consistent with what users are looking for, and matching best practices in the industry and what apps are looking like,” Olson said.
Also in October, the city received the 2022 Community Sustainability Program Excellence Award from the International City/County Management Association for its recycling campaign.
Working with several partners, including the Lake Forest Garden Club, the city embarked on a campaign with the goal of reducing recycling contamination rates over a two-year period to lower costs.
With the campaign using social media and highlighted by a website titled “Bart the Cart,” contamination rates fell from 25% to just below 10%, according to the city.
“Changing market conditions in the recycling industry have created significant strains on municipal budgets across the country,” City Manager Jason Wicha said in a statement. “This city-wide effort has lowered processing costs to the community, which in turn ensures the economic sustainability of our recycling program.”
