Your Time To Shine

Municipal Excellence Award recipients shine at Convention

Each year at our convention, we celebrate all of our municipal members, but we’d be lying if we didn’t think that some went above and beyond their calling to do extraordinary things. That is what inspired us to create the Municipal Excellence Awards, which awards four municipalities in three population categories as well as a special topic and two individuals for the Joel Cogen Lifetime Achievement Award and Richard C. Lee Innovators award.

Read on for brief introductions to our winners and their projects:

Joel Cogen Lifetime Achievement Award

There is perhaps no one more deserving of a lifetime achievement award from CCM than John Elsesser, who has recently retired from his position as the Town Manager of Coventry after 35 years. Prior to that he also worked in Manchester, Wethersfield and Avon. When he was nominated, it was said that there was not enough space to describe all of his achievements in just 600 words – that he was a leader, a steward of his town, an active part of his community, a “forward thinker,” and so much more. He embodies the spirit of public service, and are proud to give him this award.

Richard C. Lee Innovators Award

A theme of this year’s convention is remembering forgotten communities, and Cathy Palazzi has worked hard to advocate for seniors in Andover. Many times, Seniors are a forgotten part of our communities, but Palazzi worked hard to connect seniors who could not commute on their own with services that were being provided. Thanks to her advocacy and hard work, Andover’s Senior Transportation Program has expanded to four drivers and vehicles. In her nomination, it concludes by saying “Without dedicated and caring volunteers like Cathy, Andover wouldn’t be able to offer these services.”

Municipal Excellence Award (20,000 or below)

Composting is an old technology renewed for the 21st century, which will help towns and cities manage solid waste. In the Town of Ridgefield, they created a “self-sustaining closed loop composting system” in partnership with the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority. Just one facet of the total solid waste program, it recycles, saves the town money, and makes for a greener Ridgefield, a win-win-win for the municipality.

Municipal Excellence Award (20,001 to 40,000)

People love their dogs, but if you ask any municipality, people do not love licensing their beloved pets. So the Town of Windsor came up with a unique campaign to remind their residents that June was the time to register their pet with the WinWag Photo Contest. Was it a success? Their goal was to increase entries by 50% and ended up increasing them by 448%, and issuing 125 more licenses than the previous year. All for the cost of a Word Press Plug-In, some Facebook marketing, and 22 staff hours.

Municipal Excellence Award (40,001 and above)

The American Rescue Plan funding presented towns and cities with a unique opportunity to make an impact on priorities, and perhaps no one did this better or with more public input than the City of Bridgeport. With priorities already set in place, the public was able to rank what their biggest priorities were and the City was able to begin deploying the funding in a quick and efficient manner.

Municipal Excellence Award (Topical Award: Innovation in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)

Here at CCM, we are always arguing that everyone deserves a seat at the table and an opportunity to have their voice heard. The Town of Manchester partnered with Bang The Table’s Engagement HQ platform to offer “Your Voice Matters Manchester.” The platform offers residents a two-way communication tool to make sure that the town leaders hear direct from their constituents, with some projects gaining thousands of responses.