For the second year in a row, the City of Federal Way earned the Association of Washington Cities’ WellCity Award of Achievement for its outstanding workplace wellness program.

The City won the award in 2009 and also in 2001.

Federal Way was one of 34 Washington cities recognized by AWC this year. The awards will be presented in June at the AWC's annual conference in Vancouver.

The WellCity Award recognizes cities and towns that demonstrate best practices in employee health promotion. WellCities must meet minimum criteria in nine standards including policies and procedures, leadership support, wellness committee, internal and external resources, needs assessment, worksite environment, operating plan, mix of program activities and evaluation.

Kimberly Shelton, the fitness coordinator at the Federal Way Community Center and the City’s wellness coordinator, organizes a year’s worth of healthy activities for employees including competitions between departments covering athletics, math and spelling. Shelton and the City’s Wellness Committee also put out a quarterly newsletter and facilitate healthy potlucks and nutrition lectures.

Worksite wellness programs have been proven to increase productivity and reduce health risks and health care costs. In fact, the AWC is instituting a two percent discount on employee and spouse insurance premiums for cities that win the WellCity award in 2011. If Federal Way were to win for its wellness efforts in 2010, it would amount to a projected savings of $60,000 for 2011.

“We don’t do this for our health alone,” said Shelton. “Not only are we getting more fit and prolonging our lives, we’re impacting the City’s bottom line.”

AWC is a private, non-profit corporation serving Washington’s 281 cities. AWC’s Employee Benefit Trust provides health benefits to over 16,000 city employees in Washington.