MIDDLEBURY — The Vermont League of Cities and Towns, at its annual Town Fair in Essex Junction on Oct. 5, will present its Lifetime Achievement Award to recently retired Middlebury Town Manager Bill Finger.
This award is presented to a municipal official or employee who has dedicated his or her career to serving local government within his or her own community and through service on a statewide level on boards or commissions or the VLCT.
Finger served as manager in West Rutland for 10 years and in Shelburne  for seven years before coming to Middlebury 12 years ago. In the towns where he has resided, Lincoln and Ira, he has been a selectboard member, planning commissioner, recreation committee member and moderator.
In addition, Finger served six years on the VLCT board of directors, and also on the board of the Vermont Town and City Management Association, including one year as president. In Addison County, he served on the Addison County Solid Waste District, the Transportation Advisory Committee, the Economic Development Corporation, and Middlebury Area Land Trust.
“Bill has a talent for bringing people together to resolve sometimes contentious issues and then move to results,” said Karen Horn, the VLCT’s director of Public Policy and Advocacy. For instance, Horn said he played an important role in building the Cross Street Bridge in Middlebury, a bridge that had been on the Agency of Transportation’s plans since 1955. After securing funding from Middlebury College, which agreed that the bridge was essential, and institutionalizing a local option tax, Finger was part of a group that saw that the bridge was built without state assistance, using a design-build process. It opened in October 2010.
Finger retired from the town of Middlebury last month. Town officials held a retirement party for Finger at Two Brothers Tavern last Thursday.