Lomita Extends Contract with Tripepi Smith and Advances Public Understanding of Water System
Tripepi Smith has continued to advance the City of Lomita’s goal of transparency with its residents about its municipal water system, following a unanimous vote by Lomita’s City Council in November 2019 that extended the City’s contract with Tripepi Smith for water-related communication efforts.
“Last year, our City Council and staff identified transparency about water quality with our residents and providing consistent and accurate information to our community as high priorities,” said Ryan Smoot, City of Lomita’s city manager. “Tripepi Smith had a history of successful work with Lomita and is well known as an effective communications firm for public agencies so it was an easy decision to ask the firm to continue supporting Lomita.”
Tripepi Smith first started its engagement with Lomita in 2016 in response to public concerns about the City’s water quality. Tripepi Smith team members and city staff collaborated to create Lomitawater.com, a website that continues to be updated with water quality reports and other news to ensure residents have accurate information about water quality in the City.
More recently, residents expressed concerns about water quality after the City detected benzene in its groundwater well and, on an unrelated matter, was notified of a pollution plume that originated outside city limits. These issues increased the need for communications and public engagement.
As a core element of the public engagement effort, Tripepi Smith helped the City launch a Lomita Water Infrastructure Tour Program, enabling members of the public to gain first-hand knowledge of the Lomita Water System as well as planned system upgrades. Tripepi Smith team members supported Lomita in conducting 14 public tours of the Cypress Water Production in 2019. A total of 95 members of the public participated in these informative tours, and residents consistently expressed their appreciation for the City’s transparency and accessibility to senior City leadership during the tours.
Team Tripepi Smith also helped arrange and promote the City’s participation in a Public Information Open House in December 2019, hosted by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, to discuss the pollution plume originating outside city limits. At the meeting, City staff had the opportunity to share information about the ongoing Hi-Shear Corp. investigation with approximately 50 residents. In turn, residents got to interact with staff members from the Los Angeles Water Board, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and the City.
Tripepi Smith team members are continuing to plan and execute a number of communication efforts to ensure that residents have access to accurate information through multiple mediums, including public information open houses and tours (whether in-person or virtual), routine updates to the City’s water website and the issuance of timely press releases to keep the public informed.
“Lomita’s decision to extend their partnership with Tripepi Smith speaks to the City’s dedication to provide accessible and updated information to their residents,” said Ryder Todd Smith, president of Tripepi Smith. “Tripepi Smith is excited to continue our work with the community of Lomita.”
About the City of Lomita
As a family-friendly City, Lomita creatively and consistently strives to provide excellent public service and employee performance, with the intent to enrich the quality of life for every citizen, worker and business owner. The mission of the City of Lomita is to provide a healthy, safe and friendly small-town community where everyone can successfully live, work and play.
About Tripepi Smith
Tripepi Smith is an Orange County-based marketing, technology and public affairs firm that serves for-profit, nonprofit and public agencies. Its unique mix of marketing and technology prowess provides a competitive advantage to agencies seeking to leverage the internet to achieve their communication goals. The firm provides full content creation services, including: ghost writing, collateral development, photography, video production, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, email marketing campaigns and website design and execution. Tripepi Smith clients include: City of American Canyon, City of Culver City, City of Cupertino, City of Daly City, City of Duarte, City of El Cerrito, City of Indian Wells, City of La Cañada Flintridge, City of Lakeport, City of Lake Forest, City of Paramount,City of Rolling Hills Estates, City of Santa Ana, City of Santa Cruz, City of Tracy, City of Yuba City, Cal Choice, California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, Bellflower-Somerset Mutual Water Company, Inland Empire Utilities Agency, Rowland Water District, Valley Water Company, California Contract Cities Association, California City Management Foundation, Institute for Local Government, League of California Cities, Renne Public Law Group, Bob Hall & Associates and Climatec Energy Services.