SALEM — Like many other communities throughout the state, Salem and several other North Shore Cities and towns signed Community Compact agreements Tuesday with state officials.

Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, along with officials from Nahant and Saugus, signed their compacts in the Salem City Hall Council chambers. Earlier that day, Peabody, Danvers, Middleton, Georgetown and Essex officials gathered in the Middleton Town Hall to do the same. Back in February, Beverly also signed a compact.

The Community Compact program helps cities and towns in the state make improvements that fall under specific best practices areas, including education, financial management, and housing and Economic Development. The area chosen is up to the community. 

In Salem, transparency, sustainable development and land protection, and sharing best practices, are the three areas the city has committed to working on with the state. Along with this collaborative work, each town or city also gets extra points on grant applications for having a compact.

"The best part of this is I hope that we will all share," Driscoll said, referring to the commitment to share best practices across communities.

Salem became the 214th community to sign a compact.

"What's great about this program is you have three communities signing today — they're all different," Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said at the afternoon signing, adding that Salem, Nahant and Saugus each chose different best practices. "The work that you're doing as local leaders really impacts people's lives."

Under its compact, Peabody will continue to work on Local Agriculture promotion, to work on a plan for "unused or underutilized sites in order to maximize their economic development potential," and to have the city's Department of Public Services work with the state Department of Transportation "relative to planning, design, compliance, safety and operational information," Mayor Ted Bettencourt said in a prepared statement.

As far as local agriculture, the mayor said the city is "committed to locally grown food." The city owns and manages Brooksby Farm, and next year will be taking over Tillie's Farm on Lynn Street.

Read the entire Salem News Article here