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Vergennes Legion Selects Mel Hawley For It’s 2006 Community Service Award

photo by Mike Cameron (L to R) Legion Post #14 Trustee and Selection Committee member Mike Sullivan presents the award to Mel. The event was held on Thursday evening, March 9th, 2006.

Tuesday March 14, 2006

By Henry Broughton

    By all accounts he has held nearly every job in the Vergennes City Government and as Mike Sullivan, a member of the Legion’s selection committee remarked “he has done them all well.”

Thursday evening at the Legion’s annual birthday dinner, Mel Hawley received the Legion’s Community Service Award, an award that is given annually to a non-member of the Legion who has contributed unselfishly to the betterment of the community.

Citing some of Hawley’s accomplishments, it was noted that he first began serving the City of Vergennes in 1977 when he was appointed a member of the Planning Commission. That was the beginning of several city jobs including Assistant City Clerk, City Clerk and Treasurer; Delinquent Tax Collector, Lister; Health Officer; City Manager; delegate to the Addison County Regional Planning Commission; Chair of the Addison County Solid Waste Management District; Chair of the Vermont Municipal Retirement System. Mel was also the first president of Property and Casualty Inter-municipal Fund of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. Mel’s role in these positions is well documented in the meeting minutes of those organizations. A most notable contribution was the creation of the program that provides property and casualty insurance to member municipalities of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. This project alone has saved millions of dollars to communities across the state. Mel was also instrumental in establishing the Vergennes Recycling Center that serves not only the city of Vergennes but also surrounding communities.

Mel was appointed Vergennes City Manager in 1961 and continued in that role until 1998 when he accepted the position of Facilities/Special Project Manager at Country Home Products. However he has continued his public service serving as the Vergennes Zoning Administrator and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Addison County Economic Development Corporation where he continues to advocate for the City’s interest.

Falls Park and the City Docks reconstruction was one of the projects that Mel looks back to with a lot of satisfaction and securing the first $50,000 towards the restoration of the City Hall / Opera House was another rewarding endeavor. He said that many projects were important to him during his tenure as City Manager and he explained “I never forgot that the dollars that made it into City Hall were the City’s dollars”.

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