To celebrate local government awareness week, we’re profiling winners of the 2025 Community Excellence Awards winners. These projects exemplify the best in local government.
The Village of Cache Creek won the 2025 Excellence in Governance Award for its Transparent Recovery Initiative, which was created after a devastating flood. The initiative is a community‑first approach to rebuilding trust and guiding long‑term recovery through open, accessible information.
Following the flood in 2023, the Village faced a critical challenge: managing a complex, multi‑year recovery effort while responding to strong public demand for timely, accurate, and transparent information. Residents wanted consistent updates, clear explanations, and visibility into recovery progress, costs, and decision‑making.
The Transparent Recovery Initiative directly addressed this gap through three tools: the Flood Hub, the Project Manager Dashboard, and daily updates via Voyent Alert. Together, these platforms provide a centralized, easy‑to‑use source of real‑time information on recovery projects, timelines, mitigation efforts, and funding. What began as a rapid response evolved into a comprehensive, interactive resource used by residents, media, and partner agencies alike.
Built quickly and cost‑effectively by a small local government with limited resources, the initiative has strengthened public trust, improved civic engagement, and reduced uncertainty during recovery. By embedding transparency into every stage of the process, Cache Creek has not only supported its own community through crisis, they also created a replicable model for transparent, accountable recovery that other communities can follow.
Applications for the 2026 Community Excellence Awards are open until May 29.
One of the objectives of the Community Excellence Awards is to encourage peer-to-peer learning among local governments, by highlighting exceptional projects. To learn more about Cache Creek’s Transparent Recovery Initiative, get in touch with CAO Damian Couture (250-457-6237).
The Community Excellence Awards recognize local governments and UBCM member First Nations projects or programs that have gone above and beyond in meeting the purposes of local government in BC. The awards are intended to showcase outstanding initiatives and share them with other members to implement in their own communities.
The Excellence in Governance category recognizes UBCM members that utilize governance processes and policies that are outcomes-based and consensus oriented; support and encourage citizen participation in civic decision-making; are efficient, equitable and inclusive, open and transparent; and exemplify best practices in accountability, effectiveness, and long-term thinking.