City Council created a new goal of “Community Outreach” by enhancing public transparency and accessibility.  In response to this direction, the Utilities Division undertook a strategic planning and name change evaluation process in early 2017 with the purpose to better convey what services we provide to the community and how to become more transparent when communicating with the public. When defining exactly what services does the Utilities Division provide to our community, the four (4) Enterprise parts that make up Utilities all have “water” in common (“Water, Wastewater, Reclaimed Water and Stormwater”).  The Division is also in the business of providing several valuable "services" to our citizens. Utilities leadership established an inclusive internal process and developed several optional names and "logos" that would uniquely identify the Division to be used in conjunction with the City Seal.  Ultimately each Supervisor was requested to meet with their staff to vote their team's favorite.   Lastly, a Strategic Planning process has also been undertaken with the goal to align with the City’s Strategic Plan and specifically address the Water Services Division’s business values and the standards that will be used to measure our success at delivering water services to our community.

The Utilities Division undertook a strategic planning and name change evaluation process in early 2017 with the purpose to better convey what services we provide to the community and how to become more transparent when communicating with the public.   The goal of these exercises are to better define to the public, who we are, what we do and the services we extend to the community and how to gain their trust in what we do and the decisions we make.   While communications is not always a utility’s strongest attribute, we are looking at ways to better achieve this goal.  Another impetus to re-evaluate the Utilities name was our new commitment to communicate via “social media”.  It became evident quickly that the term “Utilities Division” was confusing to the public and they often confused us with electricity, cable or the gas utilities.   
 
When defining exactly what services does the Utilities Division provide to our community, the four (4) Enterprise parts that make up Utilities all have “water” in common (“Water, Wastewater, Reclaimed Water and Stormwater”).  Or simply “We are Water”.  When reviewing the names of other municipal water & wastewater utilities around the State, three (3) have recently changed their name.  The Town of Marana changed to Marana Water, the City of Scottsdale to Scottsdale Water and City of Glendale to Water Services Department.  The two largest municipal utilities in Arizona already had names “Water or Water Services” in their names (i.e., Phoenix Water Services and Tucson Water). 
 
Utilities leadership established an inclusive internal process on evaluating a name change.  That process also included the development of a new “logo” that would identify water services to be used in conjunction with the City Seal.   Utilities leadership worked with Ralph Schmid, Creative Services Manager with the City’s Convention and Visitors Bureau and identified several name and logo alternatives.  Those options were taken to the entire Division staff for their input.  Ultimately, each supervisor was requested to meet with their staff to vote their team’s decision.   In a near unanimous vote, the name “Water Services Division” or “Flagstaff Water Services” was selected over the other options and a single logo drop was selected.  See following page for the new name & design.

Lastly as mentioned above, a Strategic Planning process has also been undertaken.  The goal of this effort is to align with the City’s Strategic Plan and specifically address the Water Services Division’s business values and the standards that will be used to measure our success at delivering water services to our community.  Staff will bring back more on this in the Fall timeframe.

We have developed a cost estimate of approximately $4,000 to $5,000 to replace the name Utilities with Water Services.  The greatest expense is associated with labeling the vehicles in our fleet.