Brouillette earns leadership award
Douglas Selectman Paula Brouillette has earned a major award from the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission for her work with the Four Town Group. More info from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Friday, May 19, 2006:
Ms. Brouillette, a graduate of the commission’s Leadership Blackstone Valley Program, was honored for her work with the Four Town Group, a coalition of town officials from Sutton, Douglas, Uxbridge and Northbridge who meet regularly to discuss a regional approach to various issues.
Ms. Brouillette also spearheaded a spinoff of the Four Town Group that looks at the specific area off Route 146 near the Lackey Dam Road exit where all four towns come together.
The group’s mission has been to come up with a collective master plan for the border area that could lead to improved infrastructure, synthesized zoning and, ultimately, economic development. With the help of a grant from the commission, the group this year hired a consultant to help them through the process.
Ms. Brouillette said working with the Four Town Group has been a pleasant experience, and praised the commission for its efforts at creating networks of leaders in the area. She said the Four Town Group has made progress merely by continuing to exist.
“We’ve been working over three years now,” Ms. Brouillette said. “That’s quite an accomplishment.”
Ms. Brouillette is also a member of the Corridor Keepers, a local group that is pushing for an extension of the legislative authority of the corridor commission.
Founded on Nov. 10, 1986, the Corridor Commission is a federally funded arm of the Department of the Interior. It brings public and private agencies together to promote economic development, historic preservation and environmental protection.
