Bristol Virginia To Receive Gold Award For Municipal Excellence

File photo of the Bristol Sign on State Street. High povertry and unemployment rates contributed to Bristol's listing as one of the Top 10 poorest cities in the nation, but locals say it's still a good place to live.

By: David Mcgee | TriCities.com
Published: November 13, 2008

BRISTOL, Va. – The city is one of eight in the nation to receive an award of municipal excellence from the National League of Cities.

Announced Wednesday, the city was recognized for its broadband partnerships and sustainability project overseen by Bristol Virginia Utilities.

The award will be presented Friday during the league’s 2008 Congress of Cities event in Orlando, Fla.

“We received 187 nominations, and the competition is divided into four population categories. We give a gold and silver award in each,” said league spokeswoman Ann Kelly.

Bristol received the gold award in the 50,000-and-under population category, which had 18 other finalists.

“We had a panel of eight judges review these nominations, looking for innovation, collaboration and the ‘wow’ factor of doing something first or doing it better,” Kelly said.

The nominations were reduced to 57 total finalists before being pared to the eight eventual winners, Kelly said. The municipal excellence award is one of the most prestigious given by the league, which provides promotional and advocacy services for more than 19,000 cities, towns and villages across the U.S.

Earlier this decade, Bristol, Va., was the nation’s first city to build a fiber-optic telecommunications network to serve business and residential customers.

In recent years, the city has worked with other agencies, including the Cumberland Plateau Planning District, to extend broadband service to businesses in rural areas. That service is credited with being key to convincing CGI-AMS and Northrop Grumman to establish centers in Russell County.

“The broadband partnerships and sustainability project is illustrative of the type of projects that are improving the lives of residents in cities and towns across the country,” Donald Borut, the league’s executive director, said in a news release.

City Manager Bill Dennison said the recognition is well deserved.

“This is a feather in our cap,” Dennison said. “It wasn’t just for providing a fiber-optic network to the city, but providing a high-tech network as a recruiting tool for business development for a substantial portion of Southwest Virginia.”

Other winning cities were South Sioux City, Neb.; High Point, N.C.; West Covina, Calif.; Henderson, Nev.; Boise, Idaho; San Jose, Calif.; and Denver, Colo.As its prize, the city will receive a $2,000 cash award. BVU will match that award with the money donated to the Help Your Neighbor heating assistance program administered by the United Way of Bristol and the Salvation Army.