Community Outreach: A creative approach

Kara Taylor

Environmental Programs Coordinator City of Lee’s Summit, Missouri

COMMUNITIES

s with all public works departments across the nation, the City of Lee’s Summit, Mo., Public Works Department is out and about in our community all day long. From infrastructure improvements to recycling, landfill, and airport facilities, our Public Works Department impacts thousands of residents every day. However, it still seems that many residents are not aware of just how much our Public Works Department does for our community.

In an effort to increase our presence in and outreach to the community, our department participates in the City’s annual Emerald Isle Parade. For the past several years, our staff has prepared a simple walking entry in the parade to promote the City’s environmental programs, which are the responsibility of our Public Works Department. Typically, our parade entry is comprised of staff members walking with a banner and handing out candy and small pamphlets about our environmental programs. While this has been a positive experience for both our department and the community, we really wanted to do something more impactful and unique for the 2012 Emerald Isle Parade.

Fortunately, one of our technicians is a very talented artist who has displayed an ability to artistically create just about anything.

For example, in 2010, he created the artwork for the entrance to our North Recycling Center and Outdoor Classroom out of recycled glass bottles, a recycled street sign, and some recycled rebar. The artwork consists of two bottle trees, a bottle arch, and a two-dimensional globe cut from a recycled stop sign.

The artwork for the entrance to the City of Lee’s Summit’s Recycling Center and Outdoor Classroom The Public Works Department display for a local pizzeria

In 2011, he created a Public Works Department display for a local pizzeria out of a recycled wood door and recycled glass bottles.

And, over the past several years, he has painted different designs on one of our snowplow blades for our annual Snow Rodeo.

The community feedback from his artwork has been overwhelmingly positive so we wanted to find a way to merge his talent with our parade entry this year.

The original idea was to create an environmentally-themed art exhibit that could be utilized as a float for our Emerald Isle Parade entry. The ultimate goal, however, was to create the art piece out of durable recycled materials that could be placed on permanent display at our North Recycling Center and Outdoor Classroom after the parade. Although many elaborate designs and concepts were generated for the artwork, scheduling conflicts and project material complications left little time for project completion. As a result, the final project design was less intricate than originally conceptualized, but included a series of stacked rebar arches covered in recycled green glass bottles that merged at each end. A few extra details were added here and there to complete the design, including odd-shaped sections of recycled street signs anchored to the floor of the parade float.

Despite the turtle-paced two-mile trek from the City’s Maintenance Facility to the parade route with nearly 100 glass bottles clanking the entire way, the community outreach was enormous. This year’s seventhannual Emerald Isle Parade was the largest such parade to date in Lee’s Summit, with nearly 90 parade entries, approximately 1,100 people participating in the actual parade, and approximately 5,000 parade spectators. The feedback received not only from parade spectators, but also from patrons of the North Recycling Center, has been incredibly positive and supportive, which has encouraged our department to consider another such parade entry next year.

As with many public works departments, our department utilizes several common methods of reaching out to our community, including our website, government channel, and National Public Works Week activities. Regardless of the method or outreach activity, we are finding creativity to be one secret to success.

Members of the Lee’s Summit Public Works Department with their float at the Emerald Isle Parade

The design on one of the Lee’s Summit Public Works Department’s snowplow blades for the annual Snow Rodeo

Kara Taylor can be reached at (816) 9691804 or kara.taylor@cityofls.net.