By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter
Northborough – Town Administrator John Coderre presented a first place award certificate to the selectmen at their Jan. 28 meeting that he received at the Massachusetts Municipal Association’s (MMA) 2019 Annual Meeting and Trade Show Jan. 19 in Boston.
The award was in Category 1 (population of 12,500 and up) of the MMA’s Annual Town Report contest. Northborough’s competition included neighboring communities as well as towns such as Concord and Wellesley.
Coderre shared the judging criteria for the contest which included cover design and layout; logical arrangement of material; presentation of statistics and data; summaries of the town’s achievements and evidence of local planning for the future; and practical utility of the report, which enhances the citizen’s understanding of town government.
Coderre credited his assistant, Diane Wackell, for much of the work of coordinating the report. “It shows our dedication to producing great information, great documents and putting this stuff out there in a user-friendly format for our residents,” Coderre remarked. “I know you are appreciative of the work of the staff does to bring in this level of excellence.”
Selectman Jason Perreault noted that this isn’t the first time that Northborough has won this recognition. They have received this honor at least three times.