The recently retired city managers of Lewiston and Auburn were honored this week by the Maine Town, City and County Management Association.

In separate award presentations Monday and Tuesday, former Auburn City Manager Peter Crichton was awarded Manager of the Year, while longtime Lewiston City Administrator Ed Barrett was given a Distinguished Service Award for his decades of municipal management.

In Auburn on Monday, Crichton appeared at the City Council meeting to present an award to a former intern, and was not aware of the impending presentation of the Linc Stackpole Manager of the Year Award, given annually by the association to “a public administrator who has contributed to the public management field in an outstanding fashion.”

Andrew Hart, Knox County administrator and president of the association, conducted the award presentations. He said Monday that Crichton “is a humble public servant who does not seek recognition for his service, but we cannot think of a municipal leader who is more deserving of the (award).”

Crichton retired at the end of June, passing the torch to Phil Crowell. Crowell said Monday that “Peter’s reputation for integrity and thoughtful leadership is impeccable and widely known.”

Before joining Auburn in 2017, Crichton was county manager for Cumberland County for 18 years. Prior to that he served as Public Works superintendent and assistant city administrator in Lewiston, beginning his career for the town of Mars Hill.

He was also lauded for his role in advocating for young and emerging leaders in municipal government. Crichton on Monday awarded Raegan Young, a recent intern in the city manager’s office with the 2020 Dr. Edward F. Dow Award for Future Leaders in Public Administration.

In Lewiston on Tuesday, Barrett’s award capped a long career in city government that spanned 45 years. Barrett served as Bangor’s city manager for 21 years before joining Lewiston for the last decade of his career. Prior to that, he was an assistant city manager in Wichita Falls, Texas, and he began his career in the budget office in Tucson, Arizona.

During the award presentation via Zoom, Hart said Barrett “certainly left the city of Lewiston well-positioned for the future.”

Barrett received the association’s Manager of the Year Award in 1997.

Barrett said, “I don’t do this alone. It takes everyone. This is not an ‘I’ operation, it’s a ‘We’ operation.”