Elected officials and employees of the City of West Des Moines are committed to honoring the City's value statement:
"We, the employees of the City of West Des Moines, through TEAMWORK and COOPERATION, are COMMITTED to provide the highest QUALITY OF SERVICE with HONESTY and INTEGRITY to the community we serve. We take pride in providing EFFECTIVE, DEPENDABLE services while striving to achieve EXCELLENCE through VISION and INNOVATION."
That commitment transcends the basic functions of making a city work. The focus on innovation, excellence, and quality in West Des Moines is demonstrated through the various awards and recognitions the City organization has achieved in its effort to improve services and maintain a high quality of life for residents.
----------------------------------------------------
On November 30, 2009, Forbes.com named Des Moines - West Des Moines in its Top 5 "Best Bang for the Buck" cities. Forbes looked at the country's 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas for foreclosures as a percentage of home prices; vacancies; unemployment rates; a three-year job-growth forecast; a three-year home-price forecast; housing affordability; median real estate taxes; and median travel time to work. See the article or the complete list.
In October 2009, BusinessWeek named Des Moines - West Des Moines as one of the country's 40 strongest metro economies. Coming in at #17, the area was lauded for its highly educated population and ranked well overall largely because of very high rankings in the job growth and unemployment change categories.
In 2009, the West Des Moines website received a Silver Circle Award from 3CMA, the City/County Communications and Marketing Association, for excellence in digital interactive communications. The website for noted for the following: "Beautiful design! Clean, contrasting colors. Great calendar and news features. Content is clean and well-designed. Well-updated City Manager blog."
BusinessWeek named West Des Moines one of the Best Places to Raise Your Kids in 2009 for being "kid-friendly" and "cost-friendly." Read why West Des Moines was chosen or the full article text.
West Des Moines was named one of
America's Top 100 Places to Live for 2009 by
Relocate America, a website that provides relocating consumers and area residents with access to local community resources. The award is based on outlook for future growth, visionary leadership, improving or thriving economies--including housing--and realization of "green" initiatives.
BusinessWeek named West Des Moines in its
Top Ten Most Affordable Suburbs in 2009 listing, which factored livability (short commutes, low pollution, green space), education (well-educated residents, high test scores), crime (low personal and property crime), economy (high job growth, low unemployment rate, high family income), and affordability (median household income, cost of expenditures) into its ranking.
West Des Moines was recognized for its consistently excellent practices in salt storage by the
Salt Institute in 2008. West Des Moines is an eight time winner of the "
Continuing Excellence" award for exemplary storage facilities and programs.
The City of West Des Moines was voted as one of America's Best Small Cities “offering ample job opportunities, good schools and lots to do on safe streets” in Money Magazine's August 2006 publication regarding America's Best Places to Live.
CNN Money named West Des Moines in its 2008 "Where Homes Are Affordable" Ranking. In slot 19, West Des Moines was noted for our library facility and resources, public parks, community center, Valley Junction shopping district, and range of residential options.
The Des Moines Business Record has named West Des Moines "The Best City Government Conducive to Business" each year from 1998 – 2008.
FORTUNE Small Business (FSB) named West Des Moines in the Top 100 Places to Live and Launch a Small Business in a 2008 issue of CNN Money. To compile this list, FSB searched the nation for towns that "combine a great business environment with alluring leisure offerings."
The Wells Fargo Complex in West Des Moines was named one of the Top Ten Economic Development Projects of the Year by Site Selection Magazine in 2004.
Sperling and Sander's "Cities Ranked & Rated" named Des Moines-West Des Moines in the Top 50 Cities.
West Des Moines achieved Standard and Poor’s AAA Bond Rating in March 2005 and has maintained it since.
West Des Moines received Metro Waste Authority's 2006 Recycling Award for the City's commitment to comprehensive waste reduction and recycling. Of the twenty cities that participate in MWA's Curb it! program, West Des Moines recycles the highest percentage of goods per capita.
West Des Moines is one of only a few cities in the nation to have all three public safety departments accredited. Emergency Medical Services received accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services. The Police Department is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. The Fire Department received accreditation from The Commission on Fire Accreditation International.
The City's thrice annual publication WDM Magazine received an Award of Excellence from 3CMA, the City/County Communications and Marketing Association, in 2007. The awards recognize outstanding local government achievements in communications, public-sector marketing and citizen-government relationships. They salute skilled and effective city/county/agency professionals who have creatively planned and carried out successful innovations.
The WDM Magazine also won a Bronze Award for Best Government Publication in the 2009 Magnum Opus Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Custom Media. The Magnum Opus awards are given by ContentWise in conjunction with the Missouri School of Journalism and McMurry.
The West Des Moines Public Works Department received the Mentoring Award from CartêGraph, Inc, on October 29, 2008. The award recognizes that since 1994, WDM Public Works has influenced the development of new programs, troubleshooted existing or new programs, and helped other communities evaluate and learn from the City's use of the program and Asset Management philosophy including management of pavement, storm sewer, sanitary sewer, signs, signals, and fiber optics.
West Des Moines received a Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award from ESRI on August 6, 2008 for being "the beacon of GIS in the Des Moines metropolitan area."
Human Services staff were recognized on June 5, 2008 with a congratulatory medal for their commitment in making a difference in the lives of those who have mental illness and subsequent nomination for the Heroes in the Fight award. Heroes in the Fight is a recognition program established and sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company to celebrate dignity, courage, hope, and recovery in the ongoing treatment of persons with severe and persistent mental illness by recognizing “heroes” who provide care and support for these individuals and their families.
With the City's assistance, Historic Valley Junction was designated a Great Place by the State of Iowa.
West Des Moines has received the Government Finance Officer's Association (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the past 9 years.
The GFOA has also awarded West Des Moines a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the past 14 years.