Local town report captures MMA award
By Paula Brewer
Staff Writer
AUGUSTA — The towns of Mapleton, Castle Hill and Chapman have once again netted top honors in the Maine Municipal Association’s annual report competition.
Contributed photo
WINNING REPORT — The 2014 Mapleton, Castle Hill and Chapman town report won the Excellence Award recently from the Maine Municipal Association. This artwork by Taylor Doyen of Mapleton Elementary School graces the cover, depicting harvest in the County and representing the town of Chapman’s centennial. 
The combined 2014 report of the three towns earned the Excellence Award, or third place, for towns with populations of 2,500-5,000.
Mapleton, Castle Hill and Chapman Town Manager Jon Frederick was enthusiastic about the news, which represents the efforts of many people.
“It’s not just a town office achievement, it’s a community achievement,” he said last Wednesday. “It’s a community-wide project involving all the various committees and organizations throughout the towns. It’s a compilation of the entire three towns’ work.”
This is the third consecutive year the report has placed in the competition. Frederick, one of the three who compiled the book, gave credit to Theresa Denbow, town treasurer, and to Sue Bragdon-Lilley for their extensive contributions.
“I’m extremely proud,” he said. “It’s hard work, involves a lot of time, and this year was the first year that Theresa had done it.”
The document was done in-house, he explained, and then sent away for printing. “We used a new program for it this year, too, which was a learning process, but it made everything come together very well in the end,” he added.
Adding a special flavor to the report is the artwork on the cover, completed by Mapleton Elementary School fifth-grader Taylor Doyen when she was in grade 4. The scene is of potato pickers and a horse-drawn potato wagon, honoring the town of Chapman’s centennial this year.
For next year’s report, Frederick revealed, the town will open up a contest for community members to submit photographs for the cover; the winner will have their photo on the 2015 report’s cover.
The annual report competition has been held for more than 50 years, and recognizes municipalities for producing reports for their citizens that have excellent content, are well organized and visually appealing. Some 240 municipalities entered reports this year.
Judges rate the reports in five population categories: 5,000 and over; 2,500 to 4,999; 1,000 to 2,499; 500 to 999; and, under 500.
Winning municipalities were notified by letter in September and were recognized at MMA’s Annual Convention, Oct. 7-8, at the Augusta Civic Center. Each winner receives a framed award plaque from MMA.
This year’s first-place winners were Freeport, Vassalboro, Mount Desert, Islesboro and Cranberry Isles.
