APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – Communication practices in the City of Appleton are getting some national recognition.
Appleton Communications Coordinator Chad Doran was recognized as the 18th most influential person in local government by Engaging Local Government Leaders, a national organization focused on local government.
He was nominated for the Chris Traeger Award list.
Doran was nominated for his efforts in keeping Appleton residents informed.
A big part of that is information to the taxpayers.
“Everything that we do uses tax dollars, and people want to know where their money goes.”
One way Doran recently helped communicate that information is by creating Appycademy, a citizens academy for the taxpayers.
“We show them basically everything that we do with their tax dollars in the city,” he said. “We start out by leading them through a session with the finance department and from there we take them to each of our departments and show them what those departments do with that money.”
The program takes participants through different departments in the city where they are given a look into how each department spends the tax dollars.
Doran says people come out ofAppycademy with a much better understanding and the interest in Appycademy took off fast.
Doran also created the city drone team which uses drones in ways to advertise, promote the city and help law enforcement. He also writes content for the city website and serves as the media point of contact.
This is the third time that Doran has made the list, which is based on year-by-year activity.
“I think it just really recognizes that Appleton is really a leader nationally in communication and outreach in our community. Local government does sometimes get a bad wrap by having communications issues with their residents.”
