Oustanding Achievement in Environmental Improvement (Annual budget greater than $100,000)

Litter, a problem that Ardmore says costs its citizens about $100,000 a year, is being successfully tackled by a new program of the Ardmore Beautification Council at a cost of - get this - just $15. With the donation of a previously unused phone number in the city manager's office, Ardmore's litter hotline is getting results because not only is each call reported to the proper entity for action, each caller to the hotline is promised a follow-up call on how the situation was handled.

The Council cleverly found inexpensive or free methods to publicize the number on sanitation trucks, the city TV station, the cable TV public information station, the local newspaper, and an easy-to-copy flyer in the Chamber of Commerce newsletter.

One bordering community already has joined in the efforts and one habitual litterer already has been successfully prosecuted. Our judges applauded the innovative methods used and said this program should be "copied and copied and copied." For turning the heat on litterers with a hot new hotline, the Ardmore Beautification Council is good news for Oklahoma.