Policy P.14.01 — Civic Awards & Recognition Program — full text

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Policy P.14.01 Civic Awards & Recognition Program Municipality of Five Rivers 1 of 6 Municipality of Five Rivers Policy P.14.01 CIVIC AWARDS PROGRAM 1. PURPOSE. To recognize individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the community of Five Rivers. 2. DEFINITIONS. 2.1. "CAO" means Chief Administrative Officer of Five Rivers. 2.2. "Civic Award" means one of the following four designated awards: (1) Volunteer of the Year - Youth, (2) Volunteer of the Year - Adult, (3) Community Builder of the Year, (4) Business of the Year, and (5) Order of Five Rivers. 2.3. "Civic Awards Coordinator" is responsible to administer the civic awards program for the Municipality, including pre-screening nominations and planning the award ceremony. The CAO will designate the Coordinator. 2.4. "Contribution period" refers to the 12-month period being assessed by Council, which runs from January 1 to December 31 each year. 2.5. "Council" refers to the individuals duly elected by local residents of Five Rivers to represent them in the local government of Five Rivers. All Council members shall be responsible to select recipients for civic awards. 2.6. "Municipality" refers to the Municipality of Five Rivers, which is comprised of the former village of Rexton, parts of the former Local Service Districts (LSDs) Harcourt and Weldford, and all of the former LSD Richibucto Parish. 2.7. "Municipal Office" refers to the Municipality's administrative office (82 Main Street, Rexton, New Brunswick E4W 5N4). 2.8. "Staff" refers to the administrative staff of Five Rivers. Policy P.14.01 Civic Awards & Recognition Program Municipality of Five Rivers 2 of 6 3. GENERAL RULES. 3.1. Civic Awards shall be awarded on an annual basis. 3.2. Municipal staff shall administer the Civic Awards Program, which includes oversight of the application process and coordination of the awards ceremony. 3.3. Civic awards shall be issued to award winners through an annual ceremony, hosted by the Mayor and Council. 3.4. Nominations must be submitted by someone external to the organization. Exceptions would be where a supervisor, a board member, or another management position is nominating worthy volunteers from their organization. 3.5. Members of Council and staff may not submit a nomination. 3.6. Individuals, groups, and companies may not receive more than one award per year.1 3.7. Individuals, groups, or companies cannot submit nominations on their own behalf. 3.8. Individuals will not be recognized more than once for individual awards unless there are exceptional circumstances as determined by Council. The Civic Awards Coordinator (the "Coordinator") will confirm if an individual has received an award in the past. 3.9. Nominees cannot be directly related (spouse, sibling, parent, child) to (a) a current full-time employee2 of Five Rivers or (b) a current member of Council. 3.10. Nominees cannot be associated in a business or financial enterprise with (a) a current full-time employee2 of Five Rivers or (b) a current member of Council. 3.11. The identity of all nominees shall be held in strict confidence by Council and Staff. Only award winners shall be disclosed publicly, and then only after they agree in writing to accept the award. 3.12. All notices of the results of award votes shall be made in writing. The initial notice of results to all nominators shall be made in writing. Award winners shall be notified in writing by an official letter from the Municipality, signed by the mayor. The Municipality shall not notify nominees who do not receive awards. 3.13. Council members shall hold in strict confidence, and shall not attempt to explain, all reasons why nominees were not selected to receive an award. 1 In the case of multiple nominations for an individual in multiple categories, Council will identify the award category that best reflects their achievement. 2 All Fire Department members and casual and part-time staff of the Municipality (including summer students) are not full-time employees of Five Rivers. Policy P.14.01 Civic Awards & Recognition Program Municipality of Five Rivers 3 of 6 4. AWARD DESCRIPTIONS AND ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA. 4.1. The Volunteer of the Year - Youth award recognizes an individual who is no younger than 10 years of age and no older than 18 years of age during the contribution period who has made extraordinary contributions through volunteer activity to the community of Five Rivers. a) The individual conducted their volunteer activity within Five Rivers. b) The individual was a resident of Five Rivers for at least six (6) months of the contribution period. c) The individual was not compensated monetarily for their volunteer work by an hourly wage. 4.2. The Volunteer of the Year - Adult award recognizes an individual 19 years of age or older who has made extraordinary contributions through volunteer activity to the community of Five Rivers. a) The individual conducted their volunteer activity within Five Rivers. b) The individual was a resident of Five Rivers for at least six (6) months of the contribution period. c) The individual was not compensated monetarily for their volunteer work by an hourly wage. 4.3. The Community Builder of the Year award recognizes individuals or groups that have made a special contribution to the social development of Five Rivers. a) The activity of the individual or group directly benefitted the people of Five Rivers. b) The individual or group was active in Five Rivers for at least six (6) months of the contribution period. 4.4. The Business of the Year award recognizes private businesses that have made a special contribution to the economic growth and development of Five Rivers. a) The business is located in Five Rivers. b) The company operated in Five Rivers for at least six (6) months of the contribution period. 4.5. The Order of Five Rivers award is the highest honor bestowed by the Municipality. It recognizes individuals who, over their lifetime, have made extraordinary contributions to the civic life of Five Rivers through (a) public service or (b) personal and/or professional achievement. a) The activity of the individual, group, or company directly benefited the people of Five Rivers or reflected positively on the community of Five Rivers. b) The individual, group, or company had or has a direct personal connection to and history with the community of Five Rivers. c) Individuals may be nominated for and receive this award posthumously. Policy P.14.01 Civic Awards & Recognition Program Municipality of Five Rivers 4 of 6 5. AWARD NOMINATION PROCESS. 5.1. Nominations shall be submitted through an online form on the municipal website (www.5-rivers.ca). 5.2. Nominations for a given year shall be submitted between January 1 and October 31 of the previous year. Nominations received between November 1 and December 31 shall be considered by the Council following year. 5.3. The Coordinator shall screen nominations to ensure compliance with eligibility criteria. a) Where appropriate, the Coordinator will contact the submitter to clarify or complete parts of the application. b) The Coordinator will contact submitters to explain why a given application has failed to meet the eligibility criteria. 5.4. The Coordinator shall send copies of qualified applications to all Council members. 6. AWARD RECIPIENT SELECTION. 6.1. Council shall discuss and vote for nominees at their Committee-of-the-Whole meeting in November in a closed session. 6.2. Members of Council will declare any conflict of interest related to a nominee under the normal agenda and then recuse themselves from voting for the related award. 6.3. Awards and nominees shall be discussed and voted on in the following order. a) Volunteer of the Year - Youth b) Volunteer of the Year - Adult c) Community Builder of the Year d) Business of the Year e) Order of Five Rivers 6.4. The Coordinator will announce whether any individual, group, or business has been nominated for more than one award. If so, one nominee at-a-time, Council will vote to identify the award that best reflects their achievement. Policy P.14.01 Civic Awards & Recognition Program Municipality of Five Rivers 5 of 6 6.5. For each award, Mayor and Council shall do the following. a) Council will vote for nominees by using the rank choice vote method.3 b) The CAO or Coordinator shall tabulate the votes to confirm the winner of the rank choice vote.4 c) The results shall be held in strict confidence by Council and Staff until the formal announcement is made at the regular meeting of Council in December. d) After each award winner is chosen, the Mayor will close discussion of that award and move to the next, repeating the aforementioned process. 6.6. After all awards have been decided, Council will agree on a place, date, and time to host the Awards Ceremony, with guidance from the CAO and the Coordinator. 7. AWARD ANNOUNCMENT AND CEREMONY. 7.1. After the Committee of the Whole Meeting in November and before the agenda is released for the next regular meeting in December, the Coordinator shall confirm that all award winners agree to accept their award. 5 7.2. Award winners shall be disclosed in the agenda of Council's regular meeting in December. After the agenda is published on the municipal website, the Coordinator shall: a) send winning nominees an official letter of congratulations; b) notify all nominators of the results of Council's vote; c) update the website with the list of winners; and d) plan the Ceremony (at the place, date, and time approved by Council). 7.3. At its regular meeting in December, Council will pass motions to formally announce the Civic Award winners. 7.4. After the Award Ceremony, the Coordinator will submit a media release with the full list of winners, their award categories, and photos from the ceremony. 3 If Council does not receive any nominations for a given award, or if a majority of Members do not vote for a nominee, Council shall declare that there is no winner of the award. 4 In the event of a tie vote, Council may vote to declare two winners or no winner (that year). 5 If the award winner does not agree to receive the award, the award will be withdrawn and not be given by Council. Policy P.14.01 Civic Awards & Recognition Program Municipality of Five Rivers 6 of 6 8. EFFECTIVE DATE. DATE OF READING November 12, 2025 9. SIGNATURES. MAYOR Tina Beers CLERK Rob Webber