2014 Arthur Gibb Award for Individual Leadership

Andrea Morgante is a long time Hinesburg community member and leader. She currently serves on the Hinesburg Selectboard (22 years of service – first elected in 1992), having first served on the Hinesburg Planning Commission for 4 years from 1988 to 1992. Within municipal/regional government, she also represents the Town of Hinesburg on the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission. She also serves the community through leadership roles in several non-profit conservation groups, including: Hinesburg Land Trust (Co-founder), Lewis Creek Association (Board President), and LaPlatte Watershed Partnership (Co-founder).In her work on community planning and conservation issues, Andrea is known for her respectfulness, her willingness to listen to and consider diverse opinions, and her desire to find creative solutions. She has also been praised for having a vision that includes both the big picture, in an ecological sense, as well as human needs.

She brings this holistic approach to every discussion and every public policy decision,” said Alex Weinhagen, Hinesburg’s director of planning and zoning. “Frequently, she makes the rest of us in the room think harder about what core values are driving a policy conversation, and how the expedient solution is not always the right solution for the long term or the larger ecological system.