BOSTON – Tuesday, February 12, 2013 – Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray and
Secretary of Administration and Finance Glen Shor today announced the 27
recipients of the $2.25 million Community Innovation Challenge (CIC) grant
program to incentivize and support innovative regionalization and other cost
saving initiatives. These programs will change the way local governments do
business to maintain service delivery and stretch every tax payer dollar as far
as possible.
The 27 recipients of the FY 2013 CIC grant program span 162 cities and towns.
The project recipients reflect geographic and income diversity across the
Commonwealth, including several Gateway Cities.
“The first round of the Community Innovation Challenge Grant program was a
success, attracting wide interest by municipalities and planning agencies to
develop regionalization and innovation strategies on the local level,” said
Lieutenant Governor Murray. “We’re excited to continue this program with the
second round of award recipients who have all proposed more innovative
opportunities and cost-saving measures to collaborate, regionalize and maintain
valuable local services.”
“Our new fiscal reality demands that government change the way it does
business to stretch every taxpayer dollar as far as possible,” said Secretary
Shor. “The Patrick-Murray Administration’s CIC grant program is just one of the
many ways we are working to give cities and towns the tools they need to drive
change in local government. I am excited that the second round of this program
will provide for the continuation and expansion of some really great programs
and jump-start brand new ones.”
Regionalization is an opportunity for neighboring communities to build
partnerships to engage in shared services, inter-municipal agreements, municipal
collaborations, consolidations, mutual aid and regional planning to reduce the
risk of duplicating efforts and unnecessary spending of limited taxpayer
dollars. With 351 cities and towns spanning the Commonwealth, there are
countless ways to collaborate and work together to maintain important local
services and deliver those services effectively and efficiently.
The CIC grant program is one more example of the kind of reforms the
Patrick-Murray Administration has made in challenging fiscal times to make
government more effective and efficient. CICG provides incentives, such as
technical assistance, training and other one-time or transition funding for
municipal leaders to work together to pursue innovative ways to deliver critical
services to taxpayers more efficiently. Ideal projects for the grant program
include those with the potential for greatest impact, high levels of innovation
and substantial potential cost savings for municipalities.
“I commend the Patrick-Murray Administration for their continued support in
securing funds for the Community Innovation Challenge Grant Program,” said House
Speaker Robert A. DeLeo. “As the cities and towns across the Commonwealth begin
to emerge from this economic downturn, it remains important that state leaders
continue to find ways to make government more effective and efficient.”
In the FY 2012 budget, Governor Patrick authorized the development of a
competitive grant program to encourage and incentivize regionalization based
upon the belief that the most crucial and visible interactions between
government and citizen occur locally. A grant program was proposed in the
Governor’s budget, and supported by the Legislature, providing $4 million for
regionalization and other initiatives that will improve the effectiveness and
efficiency in the delivery of local services. In FY 2012, the Patrick-Murray
Administration invested in 27 projects across the Commonwealth. These projects
involved 138 cities and towns and are currently being finished. The results and
outcomes of each project will be shared with the general public this summer on
the ANF website.
FY 2013 Community Innovation Challenge Grant Recipients:
Education
Creating in District Programs for Students with Severe Emotional and
Behavioral Disorders ($110,800)
School districts of the towns of
Agawam, East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, Ludlow, and West Springfield;
Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District; Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional
School District
Berkshire County Curriculum Frameworks Project
($89,520)
Central Berkshire Regional School District (Lead);
Adams-Cheshire Regional School District; Berkshire Hills Regional School
District; Northern Berkshire Vocational Technical School District; Southern
Berkshire Regional School District; The public school districts of the towns of
Clarksburg, Florida, Savoy, Lee, and Lenox
Expanding Regional Services for Students with Dyslexia
($73,000)
Manchester-Essex Regional School District
Regionalizing Technology Support Services
($52,037)
School districts of the Towns of Richmond (Lead), Hancock, and
New Ashford
School StatNet Pilot ($38,326)
Cities of Somerville
(Lead), Fitchburg, Revere, and Chicopee
Financial
Services
Regionalization of Assessment Services
($35,000)
Towns of Amherst (Lead) and Pelham
Public
Health
Public Health Nursing Program, Year 2
($54,840)
Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (Lead); City of North
Adams; Towns of Adams, Alford, Becket, Clarksburg, Dalton, Charlemont, Great
Barrington, Hancock, Lanesborough, Mt. Washington, New Marlborough, Peru,
Richmond, Sandisfield, Savoy, Sheffield, Washington, West Stockbridge,
Williamstown, Windsor
Local Boards of Health On-Line Tobacco Retailer Certification
Program ($25,250)
Towns of Lee (Lead), Lenox, and
Stockbridge
Cooperative Public Health Service ($68,317)
Franklin
Regional Council of Governments (Lead); Towns of Buckland, Charlemont, Conway,
Deerfield, Gill, Hawley, Heath, Monroe, Leyden, Shelburne
Hampden County Health Alliance ($45,000)
Pioneer
Valley Planning Commission (Lead); Cities of Holyoke and Springfield; Towns of
Westfield, West Springfield, Blandford, Granville, Ludlow, Palmer, and
Southwick
Public Works and
Environmental Affairs
Regional Highway Equipment Cooperative- Phase 2
($24,500)
Towns of Brookfield (Lead), Brimfield, East Brookfield,
Hardwick, Warren, and West Brookfield
Northern Middlesex Storm Water Collaborative
($98,000)
Northern Middlsex Council of Governments (Lead); City of
Lowell; Towns of Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Pepperell, Tewksbury,
Tyngsborough, Westford
Cape Cod Great White Shark Research and Outreach Program
($50,000)
Towns of Orleans (Lead); Chatham, Truro, Nantucket, Harwich,
Yarmouth, Dennis, Wellfleet, Provincetown, Brewster, and Barnstable
Regionalizing Municipal Storm Water Management in Central
Massachusetts ($115,000)
Towns of Spencer (Lead), Auburn, Charlton, Dudley, Holden, Leicester,
Millbury, Oxford, Paxton, Shrewsbury, Spencer, Sturbridge, Webster, West
Boylston, Boylston, Grafton, Hardwick, Monson, New Braintree, Northbridge,
Northborough, North Brookfield, Palmer, Princeton, Rutland, Southbridge,
Sterling, Upton, Ware, Westborough, Wilbraham
Regional Department of Public Facilities and Infrastructure
($30,000)
Towns of Wenham (Lead) and Hamilton; Hamilton-Wenham Regional
School District
Information
Technology
Central Massachusetts Regional Electronic Permitting
Collaborative ($112,000)
Central Massachusetts Regional Planning
Commission (CMRPC) (Lead); Towns of Barre, Blackstone, Boylston, Dudley,
Hardwick, Leicester, Northbridge, Spencer, and Upton
Hampshire Cloud ($80,000)
Hampshire Council of
Governments (Lead); Towns of Chesterfield and Hadley
Electronic Weights and Measures Inspection
($21,550)
Towns of Holliston (Lead), Ashland, Medway, and Millis
Malden 311 and Workers’ Compensation Reentry Program
($27,780)
City of Malden
Regionally Improving Citizen Access and Service Delivery
($80,000)
Merrimack Valley Planning Commission (Lead); Cities of
Amesbury, Haverhill, Lawrence, Methuen, and Newburyport; Towns of Andover, North
Andover, and Salisbury
Expansion of the Southeast Fire Department Electronic Records and
Permitting Collaborative ($75,000)
Southeast Regional Planning
and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) (Lead); City of Fall River; Towns of
North Attleborough, Seekonk, Marion, Westport, and Fairhaven
Municipal Open Checkbook System ($120,000)
Cities of
Woburn (Lead), Chelsea, Chicopee, and Revere; Town of Brookline
Transportation
Expansion and Implementation of a Reconfigured Transportation
Management Association ($60,000)
Towns of Acton (Lead);
Boxborough, Concord, Littleton, Maynard, Stow, and Westford
Regional Paratransit Services (Two Town Trolley)
($30,600)
Towns of East Longmeadow (Lead) and Hampden
Library
The Ames Free Library’s Creative Commons @ Queset House
($40,000)
Town of Easton
Public
Safety
Northwestern District Anti-Crime Task Force Program
($81,288)
Franklin Regional Council of Governments (Lead); Cities of
Greenfield and Northampton; Towns of Athol, Amherst, and Montague
NoFires ($63,750)
Hampshire Council of Governments
(Lead); City of Holyoke; Towns of Athol, Erving, New Salem, Orange, Petersham,
Phillipston, Royalston, Warwick, and Wendell
Rutland Regional Animal Control ($83,904)
Towns of
Rutland (Lead), Oakham, Barre, and Paxton
Housing
Massachusetts Housing Data Portal
($50,000)
Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC)
Veterans’
Serivces
Expansion of Professional Regionalized Veterans
Services ($35,083)
City of Northampton (Lead); Towns of Amherst,
Chesterfield, Williamsburg, Cummington, Goshen, Pelham, Worthington, Hadley, and
Middlefield
