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Date: 5/23/2023
BELCHERTOWN — Town Administrator Gary Brougham was presented with the William “Gerry” Whitlock award at Town Meeting on May 8.
“This is a special award. This is I guess I call it the ultimate honor the town of Belchertown can convey upon one of its citizens,” Select Board member Ron Aponte said. “It is not an annual award, frankly, because the standards are so high they are not met every year. They have not been met all that often. It is more of a lifetime achievement award.”
The Gerry Whitlock award was first given out in 2009. Michael Reardon, Terry Nagel and William Barnett are the other three winners before Brougham.
The award is named after William “Gerry” Whitlock, who served as the chairman of the Select Board and was the town’s first paid manager, holding the title of executive secretary in the 1950s to 1990s.
Brougham said he was surprised but honored to receive the award.
He added, “I am a little bit surprised with all this. For those who know me I try to avoid any recognition.”
Brougham’s plans to retire on June 3 after 26 years as town administrator became public on March when Select Board Chair Jim Barry read his retirment letter into the record on March 27.
All of the Select Board members thanked him for his years of service to the town.
Brougham was the DPW director for four years starting in 1993.
“We have covered a lot of ground. We moved forward with redeveloping the former Belchertown State School facilities and got them in compliance with regulatory objectives and positioning the town with infrastructure that would enable growth,” Brougham said.
During that time, Brougham helped put together the first DPW building that included putting all the elected board and officials under one roof.
Brougham said he has worked with six different state senators, seven state representatives, four different police chiefs, approximately 25 different Select Board members and five school superintendents.
“It’s been a constant changing landscape but we continually came together and met the towns needs with efficiency and professionalism. The amount of capital investment and improvement to our community, which was under almost oppressive growth for 25 years, forced us to meet public safety, schools and social service requirements,” Brougham said.
He added some of the projects that were completed while he was town administrator.
“We built a new senior center, we built a new police station, we built a new fire station, we upgraded wastewater treatment, we built two schools. Countless capital projects and infrastructure, water, sewer, just moving the town forward to meet what was necessary to make Belchertown the community that many residents felt at home and continue to come to and find this new start.”
Looking to the future, Brougham thinks the town is in good shape based on the employees who have been here for a long time.
He said, “One of the tremendous assets this community has is employees. I have worked with some of the most dedicated professional employees anyone could have every hoped for. We had many participants on various boards or committees that come in for all other reasons that does before them and those after them will do hoping to make the town a better place.”
The Select Board appointed DPW Director Steve Williams as the next town administrator on May 1 and Brougham said the town will be in good shape with him.
“I am confident that the town is in good hands and I will always be here for anyone who has questions,” Brougham added.
One of the toughest challenges in Brougham’s term was the coronavirus pandemic but he said he was appreciative of all the work that was still able to get done during that unpredictable time.
He said, “The pandemic that we lived through the last couple of years placed tremendous demands on the town employees and our residents. We continued to meet every essential function of the town on time, with buildings that were closed to the public. We continued to build houses and do all of those necessary annual events, license dogs, issue marriage license, do home inspections, everything that needed to be done. We never missed a single essential function and that speaks volumes for what this town employee pool is capable of.”
Brougham said that the town has integrated a fully unified fire and paramedic service and doubled the staff of the Police Department.
“I am very proud of everyone who has made this possible,” Brougham added.