Lombardi Gets A-plus In Annual Review

BREWSTER – Town Manager Peter Lombardi got his annual report card last week, and had he received a letter grade, it would have been the equivalent of an A-plus.

He also didn’t get a gold star, but by unanimous vote the select board awarded him a 2 percent merit increase in pay.

The evaluation form includes eight performance categories ranked on a scale of one to five, comments on the eight categories, overall comments and finally a review of the 2026 priority goals. Each select board member completes the form. Lombardi’s aggregate scores ranged from 4.5 to 4.9. The goals were all in progress.

“I look at this as a really good time to reflect on where we are,” board member Mary Chaffee said. “Thinking back to 2019, we hired Peter and he accepted this job in the middle of the worst financial crisis Brewster has ever been in. We had some acute human resource issues that were very complex that had to be resolved. I think there are very few people that would have so enthusiastically sought this position under those circumstances. Peter and his team built a stronger and more resilient government in a year.” 

The pandemic followed and “he did an amazing job,” Chaffee continued. “A year later we bought the Sea Camps and significantly increased the workload and challenges Peter and his team have faced. Every year through those three and after I’ve witnessed Peter do nothing but a better and better job. I think that he’s a rare gem in municipal service [and] that everyone in the community benefits from his leadership.

“We have a town manager with scrupulous integrity, brilliant financial expertise, great interpersonal skills and a commitment to carry out his duties no matter how many hours that takes. I think Peter sets the gold standard in town manager performance,” she concluded. 

“I have not worked with anyone who I felt was as competent and also as sharing of information, not pushing decisions but allowing the board to make decisions,” board member Pete Dahl added. “In every case he’s done just an amazing job.”

“I’ve only worked with Peter for four months,” noted the board’s newest member, Laurel Labdon. “There is not a question that I’ve asked him that he couldn’t answer off the top of his head. There’s not an email that doesn’t have an almost immediate response. The only criticism I have is that every resident of Brewster doesn’t get to personally interact with him.”

All of that led to a 5-0 vote to approve the merit increase. Lombardi made $205,786 in 2024, the last year for which salary information was available.