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Date: 3/31/2021
LONGMEADOW – The Longmeadow Select Board is accepting nominations for its annual Citizen of the Year award, which is bestowed on someone for a lifetime of distinguished volunteer service in the town. The recipient will be announced and presented with a plaque at the Town Meeting on May 16.
Select Board Chair Tom Lachiusa said, “At this point, we don’t have any nominations, but we are hoping to get them in. Usually, we’ll get four or five people for Citizen of the Year. It’s not too many, but for every person who does it has to write a letter and need to make their argument for why their candidate should receive it and then we compare the letters.”
The Town of Longmeadow has been presenting the Citizen of the Year award since 1993. Generally, Lachiusa said, it’s given to a person who has done a lot of community service and it’s more of a lifetime achievement award. Once the Select Board receives the nomination of letters, it goes to the Town Manager. The board then has a meeting in executive session to discuss who they think are the best candidates, review the letters, make some recommendations and vote.
“The reason that we do this is because, like every town, there’s so many things that need to get done that we really depend on volunteers. We have volunteers that help with zoning, public health, seniors – every different challenge that the town deals with we have a group,” Lachiusa responded.
He told Reminder Publishing many people will start volunteering early in their career for experience. For someone who’s in business, they might want to volunteer behind the audit committee – they get to look at spending practices in the town and how the budget is organized, or they can join the finance committee. Those who are interested in a career in public health may decide to join a committee that deals with public health and can have the opportunity to work with different doctors. The majority of volunteers are either retired or want to give back to the community.
“We have volunteers that have been doing volunteer work for 30-plus years, and it’s kind of competitive to get this award,” Lachiusa said. “There are so many people who have been contributing for a long time. We look at the number of years of service, the kinds of projects they've been involved with and how it con”
Lachiusa's personal favorite was 2017 awardee James Russell. “He was always very friendly and would speak at town meetings,” Lachiusa replied. “He was a big person in the Rec. Department; was always very concerned about recreational needs of the community and an advocate of people being physically active."”
Russell contributed to two big projects in town, according to Lachiusa, the tennis court refurbishment and the Adult Center building project. He was on the Longmeadow Parks and Recreation Commission for 21 years and served as chairman. He was responsible for securing $700,000 for the restoration of the Longmeadow tennis courts. While on the Longmeadow Council on Aging Board, Russell fought for and oversaw the planning and approval of a new Longmeadow Senior Center building. Sadly, Russell passed away in 2019. In honor of his great service, the Adult Center named their street, James Russell Lane, after him.
In addition to the Citizen of the Year award, the Select Board decided last year to expand by having the Citizen Commendation award for outstanding service in the year.
“I have confidence that the people in town will make good nominations,” Lachiusa stated. “I have confidence in myself and other members of the Select Board in our ability to work together as a team to choose one person, and knowing the amount of effort residents put into the town in terms of their volunteer efforts and how long they’ve done it.”
Letters of nomination can be mailed to the Select Board’s office at 20 Williams St. or emailed to adminassistant@longmeadow.org by April 16.