Johnson County won five 2012 Achievement Awards from the National Association of Counties (NACo) and nine 2012 Awards of Excellence from the National Association of County Information Officers (NACIO), a division of NACo. 

On Thursday, July 26, recipients of the awards were recognized during the weekly business session of the Johnson County Board of Commissioners. The awards were presented to the county during the recent 2012 Annual Conference and Exposition of NACo and NACIO in Pittsburgh.

Two programs from the Department of Technology and Innovation were recipients of NACo awards, including the Information Technology Services Client Liaison Program and the Information Technology Services Shared Services Program.

            Other award-winning programs were:

• Wastewater Department’s Succession Planning Program;
• A New Model Program for Youth by the Corrections Department; and,
• The Kansas 150 Program in celebration of the state’s sesquicentennial in 2011 by the County Manager’s Office in partnership with Johnson County Library and the Johnson County Office of Kansas State University Research and Extension.

No other county in Kansas received an Achievement Award this year from NACo.

Four employees from three departments were recognized for winning NACIO awards, including two superior, two excellent, and five meritorious awards. The annual competition recognizes outstanding public relations and public information work being done in counties across the nation.

• Lori Sand from Wastewater won an Excellent and a Meritorious Award.
• Adele Wilcoxen from the Extension Office, Marsha Bennett from the Library, and Gerald Hay from County Manager’s Office shared a meritorious award as PIO partners for the Kansas 150 program that also received a NACo award.
• Hay also received two superior, one excellent, and three other meritorious awards.