Turner presented with Rising Star Award

CARRABASSETT VALLEY — At the annual gathering of the Maine Town, City and County Managers Association held at Sugarloaf Mountain on Aug. 11, Guilford Town Manager Johanna Turner was presented with the organization’s Rising Star Award.

This award is given to a public administrator who has been in the profession for five years or less. It is designed to recognize an administrator who has done a particularly good job in a community and to provide encouragement to stay in the profession. The administrator may have resolved a difficult problem, provided strong leadership during a crisis or brought new vitality and professionalism to a community.”

According to the nomination form submitted, she has accomplished all three.

Last year Turner stepped into the position with a budget she had not created, a warrant she had not drafted, a brand new office facility and at the outset of the pandemic environment and all its strictest requirements … and did an outstanding job which she continues to do daily.

She reduced operating expenses by thousands, converted streetlights to LED for thousands more in savings, landed hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants for electric cars, heat pumps, and most recently, Guilford was awarded a $280,000 federal grant from her application.

Nominated by former town manager Tom Goulette she received the award as a total surprise at a luncheon at the event, attended by board members William Thompson, Peter Martell and Paul Zimmerman and Turner’s husband, Matt.

In making the presentation Goulette remarked, “In spite of all the dollars, all the physical improvements, and all the intangible accomplishments, I feel the most important one of all is that  she restored the vitality and optimism of Guilford  and returned the town to its former status as a place where citizens felt welcomed and  appreciated.”