Common Cause Honors Kingston for its Website On Thursday, March 19, 2009, Common Cause Massachusetts held its annual e-Government Awards in the Nurses' Hall in the State House. These awards honor those towns and cities in Massachusetts that have made government more accessible via the internet. This is Kingston’s third consecutive year receiving this award. In order to qualify for an e-Government Award, the town or city must post their governing body's agenda and minutes, budget information, general by-laws, and--if applicable--their town meeting warrant and results. At present, the following 117 municipalities meet these criteria: Amesbury, Amherst, Andover, Arlington, Ashburnham, Ashland, Barnstable, Becket, Bedford, Bellingham, Belmont, Bolton, Boston, Boxborough, Brookline, Burlington, Cambridge, Carver, Charlton, Chatham, Chelmsford, Chelsea, Chilmark, Concord, Dalton, Dedham, Dennis, Dudley, Dunstable, Duxbury, East Longmeadow, Eastham, Easton, Egremont, Everett, Falmouth, Fitchburg, Freetown, Gardner, Gill, Gloucester, Haverhill, Holden, Holland, Holliston, Holyoke, Hopkinton, Hudson, Ipswich, Kingston, Lakeville, Leominster, Littleton, Longmeadow, Lowell, Malden, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Marlborough, Mashpee, Maynard, Melrose, Methuen, Millbury, Milton, Monterey, Nantucket, Needham, Newburyport, Newton, Norfolk, North Andover, North Reading, Northampton, Northborough, Northbridge, Orange, Orleans, Otis*, Paxton, Pembroke, Pepperell, Provincetown, Reading, Rockland, Rockport, Salem, Salisbury, Sandwich, Saugus, Scituate, Sharon, Sheffield, Somerville, South Hadley, Southwick, Springfield, Sterling, Sturbridge, Sudbury, Sutton, Tewksbury, Topsfield, Upton, Walpole, West Boylston, West Springfield, Westford, Westminster, Weston, Westwood, Weymouth, Wilbraham, Williamstown, Winchester, Winthrop, Woburn, Worcester, and Wrentham.  e-Government Award with Distinction Recipients: In order to qualify for an e-Government Award with Distinction, the town or city must fulfill requirements above, as well as provide archived governing board agenda and minutes, zoning by-laws, school committee agendas and minutes, agendas and minutes for an additional board or committee, and a calendar with all public meetings. At present, the following 49 communities meet this criteria: Amherst, Andover, Arlington, Bolton, Boston, Burlington, Chatham, Chelmsford, Concord, Dedham, Duxbury, East Longmeadow, Easton, Falmouth, Freetown, Gardner, Gill, Gloucester, Haverhill, Ipswich, Kingston, Lakeville, Littleton, Lowell, Maynard, Methuen, Monterey, Nantucket, Needham, Newton, North Andover, North Reading, Provincetown, Reading, Salem, Salisbury, Sandwich, Springfield, Sterling, Sturbridge, Sudbury, Sutton, Tewksbury, West Boylston, Westford, Weston, Westwood, Weymouth, Worcester, and Wrentham.  A copy of the full audit and pictures are available at http://www.maopengov.org/.