Gloucester Public Works Director Mike Hale was recently elected as president of the Massachusetts Highway Association.
“It’s certainly an honor, it’s a 133-year-old association of highway professionals and being the president of this organization is thrilling,” Hale said.
Hale was elected to the position last Thursday, May 7 during the association’s annual meeting, which is when his one-year term officially began. Hale had been serving as the association’s vice president before being elected.
The association has over 700 members from several county highway associations across the state. Along with the Massachusetts Municipal Association, Hale said as president he will be tasked advocating for, and educating municipalities.
“I advocated last year for additional chapter 90 public road paving funding along with the Massachusetts Municipal Association and worked with the state Legislature to really sell the point that we needed more money,” Hale said. “Last September I was invited to the chapter 90 bill signing out in central Massachusetts.”
Hale said being named president will not impact his role as Gloucester Public Works director, but that being a part of the association gives him a network of other professionals who may have faced similar problems to Gloucester.
“It’s not the first time certain events occur and if someone’s dealt with it before, you can learn a lot of lessons and take advantage of those lessons to reduce the impact on your own community,” Hale said.