OXFORD — Getting the most out of customers’ money and rewarding the work of employees were two themes of the manager’s report for the Southwest Regional Water District’s annual meeting Saturday.

The meeting was held in Miami University’s Shriver Center and general manager Tom Yeager presented his first report since taking over that position last July. He replaced long-time manager Bob Hubbard, who retired last year.

Yeager told customers of the water district that the staff and the board of trustees have taken a number of steps to maximize savings to customers and keep down the cost of supplying water. Part of that effort is to offer excess water capacity to other entities, such as golf courses, while it is available, which provides big savings to members.

He cited such improvements as phone alarm notification of system emergencies to employees, which replaces the need for employees to constantly monitor a screen to watch the system and a long-range plan to replace pipes which have been in use since the system started 50 years ago. Much of that remaining original piping has a life expectancy of 50 years and will be replaced with a more modern version with an 80-year expectancy.

A main replacement is slated for State Route 129 with 100 percent grant funding and other district assets are being monitored to assure continuity in service, he said.

“We talk to all of the areas we serve to assure value to our customers. We are your drinking water supplier and we take pride in what we do,” Yeager told the district’s customers. “The board has done an excellent job with a smart debt containment program. How do we do that? It’s all about the staff.”

He said the water district management takes seriously its efforts to listen to employee suggestions about how to best serve customer needs and services.

As part of that effort, he said, they have instituted two new annual awards recognizing such outstanding service by employees and presented the first of those two awards at the meeting.

Plant operator Tom Benge was presented with the district’s first Professional Maintenance and Operations award while GIS Coordinator Jason Francis was given the first ACE Award for Administration, Customer Service and Engineering.

Both awards were made from employee nominations and three finalists chosen for each, with the committee choosing the recipients.

“We honor two individuals tonight for outstanding effort, a high level of production and excellent customer service,” the manager said.

Yeager pointed to several cost-saving initiatives suggested by employees that are helping contain costs. One involved renting a piece of equipment and having staff handling the cleaning of salt bins which saved money over the cost of hiring an outside contractor for the work. That saved $3,600.

Another was a program to handle protection of water mains in a different way, which saves the district $10,000.

The water district’s board of trustees presented two service awards to board members, one recognized 10 years of service by continuing member Mike Egbert and nine years’ service by Diana Ramsey, who is leaving the board after choosing not to run for another three-year term.

Egbert was re-elected to another term on the board at Saturday’s meeting along with Emerson Adkins. The third member elected at the meeting Robert Schmidt, will replace Ramsey on the board.