Welcome to Video Gold Productions, Inc.

Outstanding Citizen Communication Award for the Northampton Township Voting Video

Bucks County Township Wins Top Award in
Citizen Communication Contest

Northampton Township in Bucks County was presented with the Sixth Annual Outstanding Citizen Communication Award at PSATS annual convention in Hershey in April for its exceptional efforts to communicate with its residents.

Northampton Township won the award for its annual report and its educational video, "Your Right to Vote."

The video, which explains how and where to register to vote, where to vote, and voting booth procedures, was the township's first attempt at such a project, says Assistant Township Manager Ralph McClellan.

Dwindling local voter turnouts in the township prompted the township to choose voting rights as the subject of its video. "It is our most basic right," says McClellan. "We wanted to give information on something that is becoming mysterious to people." He says the video topic was also selected because of its timeliness, as the motor-voter law recently changed Pennsylvania voter registration procedures.

PSATS PRESIDENT GERALD BOROVICK, RIGHT, PRESENTS THE ASSOCIATION'S Sixth Annual Outstanding Citizen Communication Award to Ralph McClellan, assistant township manager for Northampton Township in Bucks County. Northampton Township earned the award for its annual report and its educational video, "Your Right to Vote."

The 10-minute video is regularly shown on the local government cable channel in Bucks County before the airing of meetings of the board of supervisors and planning commission. McClellan says the feedback from these programs shows residents are watching. He noted that residents will call the township offices wondering where the program is if there are any technical problems with scheduled broadcasts. First aired in October, the video has been particularly helpful to young new voters. Local high school history classes have borrowed the production to use for civic education curriculums.

The right-to-vote video has been so successful. McClellan says the township is currently considering videos on fire safety, recreation, and the municipal authority. "It's one more avenue to get residents to understand what we do," he says, "and that makes us better able to serve them.

Northampton Township was also recognized for its annual report, which continued the right-to-vote theme. A summary of township activities for the past year, the annual report contains tax and budget information, a progress report on road improvements and legislation under consideration, a list of elected officials, a township map, and upcoming meeting schedules.

McClellan says the annual report has had a theme since township Manager Bruce Townsend started it in 1984. In past years, the report has focused on taxes, police, and snowplowing.

The report is distributed to the 12,000 households in the upper-middle class township. Northampton Township is a growing community populated by residents who migrated from Philadelphia and who often do not understand township government. McClellan says the township's communications, including the video and the annual report, are a way for the township officials to explain to these city natives exactly what a township of the second class is.

The State Association presents the award each year as part of its Annual Township Citizens Report Contest to recognize one township for its overall achievement and commitment to citizen communication.

The Citizens Report Contest recognizes townships across the state for their achievements in communicating current township issues through the distribution of various publications and other media. The chairman of the Association's Publications-Public Relations Committee, the Association's coordinator of special projects, and a representative from the state Department of Community and Economic Development judge the entries in the contest.