Dialogue Public Relations was brought on board in 2013 by Carollo Engineers to help Hillsborough County take a different approach to public outreach for this program. The program includes retiring two aging wastewater facilities and consolidating treatment at the County’s Northwest Regional Water Reclamation Facility. The initial strategy for the overall program was to listen…to introduce the project concept to key stakeholders before it was approved for the County Commission, answer questions, and listen to feedback and concerns. Resident concerns were heard and options for addressing those concerns were discussed. After the program was approved for implementation by the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, resident concerns were addressed in the design criteria for each program component.

Beyond the initial public outreach, Dialogue Public Relations worked with Carollo Engineers and Hillsborough County staff to develop an over-arching public information and involvement framework for the Northwest Hillsborough Wastewater Consolidation Program. Each of the program’s three design-build contractors has a public information specialist on the team, and those efforts are coordinated and framed by Dialogue’s plan. The entire program was completed in early 2020.

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