Brewster sweeps awards at Mass. Municipal Association conference

Hollywood movie stars aren't the only ones receiving accolades for their work with the arrival of the 2024 awards season. In Brewster, town leaders and staff are celebrating their own round of awards for innovation, communication and reporting on town activities.

The town recently swept all three of the award categories at the Massachusetts Municipal Association's annual conference, held Jan. 19 in Boston. According to town officials, it's the first time any town or city has been recognized with the award trifecta all at once.

Town Manager Peter Lombardi said the achievement speaks to town staff and officials' efforts to make Brewster "a recognized leader in municipal governance."

"Over the past five years, town leadership has prioritized providing critical information to our residents in ways that are accessible and meaningful," he said. "These awards are reflective of our efforts."

The municipal association, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of cities and towns that aims to improve the effectiveness of local government in Massachusetts, evaluates member communities for their municipal innovation programs, websites and town reports each year.

Quenching thirst: Town recognized for public water station initiative

Brewster earned one of three Kenneth E. Pickard Municipal Innovation Awards given out this year. The award recognizes towns for "any new and successful approach to a municipal challenge or service that could serve as a model for other communities," according to the organization.

The town earned the award for its hydration station initiative, which was developed after it adopted its bylaw prohibiting the sale of single-use plastic water bottles — a ban that took effect on Sept. 1, 2021.

In 2022 and through 2023, the town installed public hydration stations at various locations where residents and visitors can take sips and also fill their reusable water bottles, an effort to reduce the need to buy water in disposable containers, encourage drinking Brewster tap water, and encourage the use of reusable bottles.

Many of the stations were installed last summer, including at the Brewster Community Pool, the Brewster Dog Park and the Captains Golf Courses. To date, Brewster has installed 18 indoor and outdoor water stations, and town leaders say the station inside town hall has avoided the use of more than 25,000 plastic water bottles.

"We have implemented most of our planned hydration stations, but we continue to look for opportunities to add more locations in future years, like we did this past year at the Brewster Community Pool and at the tennis and pickleball courts at the Stony Brook Elementary School," Lombardi said.

It's the second time Brewster has earned an innovation award, which the municipal association inaugurated in 2009. In 2019, the town shared this same award with Chatham, Harwich and Orleans for a first-of-its-kind state watershed permit to address nitrogen levels in Pleasant Bay.

A web of excellence

The town was also recognized for its updated website with the MMA Municipal Website Award for communities with 5,000 to 12,000 residents — the only town in that category to receive the award. The organization began recognizing towns for their websites in 2013.

Brewster launched a revamped town website last March to better meet the needs of those accessing it from their computers, increasingly using mobile devices and those using assistive technology.

The effort to make all of the town's resources more easily accessible to residents and visitors was followed in August with a new police department website and in November with a new fire department website.

Various criteria are used to evaluate town websites for the award, including clear branding as an official municipal government site with local government address and hours prominently listed, intuitive navigation tools and organization of material, having current information, availability of public records, visual appearance, and use of social media and tools for community engagement, among other considerations.

According to Lombardi, the website got high marks across the board. The site has been well received in town since its launch, he said, and town officials are "thrilled" to be recognized for the work that transformed the site into a more effective communication tool.

Towns are eligible for the website award only once unless there is a significant redesign undertaken. On Cape, Chatham is the only other town that's received the award, first in 2013 and again in 2022.

A notable town report

Brewster also took third place for towns with 5,000 to 12,000 residents in the MMA's Annual Town Report Contest, coming in behind Littleton and Westminster.

Town reports, usually issued at the annual town meeting, typically cover financial information, highlights from the previous calendar year, reports from key boards and officials, and town meeting information, among other things, according to the MMA.

The organization has recognized towns for their annual reports since 2000, evaluating them based on visual appeal, organization of materials, presentation of statistics and data, summary of the year’s achievements, evidence of local planning for the future and the report’s practical utility.

This is the first time Brewster has received the award. Truro was also recognized for its town report with a second place among communities with populations of 5,000 and fewer, coming between Tisbury and Brookfield.

Brewster Project Manager Conor Kenny, who worked on putting the final town report together with Assistant Town Manager Donna Kalinick and Executive Assistant Erika Mawn, said the report was a group effort by town staff and committee chairs. The award, he said, "is a credit to the tremendous work they have done in highlighting their accomplishments."

Heather McCarron can be eached at hmccarron@capecodonline.com, or follow her on X @HMcCarron_CCT

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Brewster racks up awards at Mass. Municipal Association conference