Association of Idaho Cities Awards

Last week the Association of Idaho Cities (AIC) held their annual conference. This conference allows city officials from across the state of Idaho to get together to learn and share information. We know that by working together we can keep up-to-date on the issues affecting cities and how we are addressing these items. Through sharing information about programs or the services we offer to our citizens’, we can experience either cost savings or innovation or both.


The City of Meridian brought forward ten such programs and services we felt would be beneficial to share with other communities around the state. They included the Community Recycling Fund, Customer Water Confidence Report, Initial Point Gallery, Meridian Enterprise Addressing Database, Project S.A.F.E., Parks & Recreation Recycling Program, Warranty Surety Program, Youth Art Display, Youth Safety Programs, and the Youth Work Life Skills Internship Program. As you can see, we have a lot to be proud of in Meridian! While I would love to talk about all of these programs and services, let me briefly tell you about two.

A few months ago a family woke up to the sound of smoke alarms going off and discovered a fire in their garage. The three people inside the home in South Meridian were all able to get out of the house safely and call 911. Firefighters arrived in time to keep the fire from spreading to the rest of the home. Less than a year ago, there were no smoke alarms in this particular home. The family was given free alarms through Project S.A.F.E. -- "Smoke Alarms for Everyone" from our Fire Department. In addition to the smoke alarms, 450 deaf/hearing impaired residents will receive a bed shaking device that is designed to help awaken them by shaking their mattress in the event the smoke alarm activates. Lives are being saved through this program.

The Meridian Enterprise Addressing Database (MEAD) is the second program I will highlight. For years, addressing information within the City has been created and maintained by multiple people, in multiple departments, within multiple databases. As a result, the inconsistencies in addressing information has made data-sharing with other outside agencies increasingly difficult. With MEAD we are able to streamline the addressing process and remove many of the roadblocks that stood in the way previously. This allows for less cost to our citizens and quicker responses from our staff.

Both of these programs were awarded an AIC City Achievement Award and together represent the hard work of our City staff to meet the ever-growing needs of our community. With dedicated staff we are working hard towards our goal as a premiere city to live, work and raise a family.