My boss asked me to write something for this blog about an award we just received for our social media program. Although the award is from a well-respected organization and we have put a lot of work into interacting online… my first thought was that people wouldn’t care and we’d sound like we were tooting our own horn. An actual trophy arrived in the mail yesterday, and I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with it.

Then something happened yesterday that reminded me why it’s important that the City of Reno keep trying to connect with people on social media, and that more people know about it.

This tweet came in at 11:40 a.m. on October 3:

Well that didn’t seem right. So we looked into it, and it turns out that the contractor for the project sent out notices Monday instead of Friday as planned. We talked with the owner of the referenced business and with the contractor, and made arrangements to maintain access to the business for customers during the time of construction.

Our Twitter post at 6:45 p.m.:

The behind-the-scenes activity that you didn’t see involved public works staff having conversations and an in-person visit with the business owner, working out a plan to make sure customers could get to the business, arranging for the crew superintendent to slurry the street earlier in the day, and communicating the results back to public information staff.

We decided from the beginning that if we were going to try to connect with people online, we needed to be responsive and have an internal process for addressing any issues. I’m grateful for the department support we have to make that happen, and that we have so many people here who really care.

So this morning I found a place for that little glass award on the shelf above the counter on the 12th floor of City Hall, and now I’m hoping someone asks what it’s for.

Please keep connecting with us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr & LinkedIn!

Reno is hosting the National Geothermal Energy Summit on Aug. 16-17. Actually, we’re co-sponsoring the event because we feel strongly that Reno is one of the most important geothermal energy centers.

When we say ‘geothermal energy’, we mean all the energy generated by the natural heat of the earth. And Reno is definitely a hotspot!

A unique blog post about preparing for a “Zombie Apocalypse” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gained a lot of attention this week. The site even crashed due to so many visitors! The post was a creative way to teach people about preparing for any emergency.

Even if a zombie attack doesn’t threaten the City of Reno, you can still make sure you and your family prepare for a more likely situation in our area, such as:

- Wildfires (they’re just as scary, and they do happen around here)
- Flooding (see pic of “the big one” that flooded downtown Reno in 1997)
- Earthquakes (we felt one around here a couple years back, and there’s always a potential)

Preparing isn’t hard; it just takes some effort. Check out Reno’s preparedness webpages to learn more. Get a kit, make a plan, be prepared – for anything!

We just started archiving our City Council meetings on our YouTube channel. We normally try to keep our videos short and sweet, but our special government channel allows us to upload long videos as well. We think this will be a nice format to archive these meetings.

As with any YouTube video, viewers can jump to any spot in the Council Meeting they want to see. We have a Council Meeting archive page set up on our website – check it out.