LUMBERTON — Erich Hackney, a Lumberton city councilman, has reached Gold level in the National League of Cities and was recently recognized in its Certificate of Acheivement in Leadership program.

The award was presented in Boston at the annual Congress of Cities conference last month.

In order to achieve Gold level a local official must earn 50 credits in the following five areas of municipal leadership: personal leadership growth and development; leading effective governance; effective communications and media relations; building communities through inspiration and empowerment; leading innovation and managing change.

The league is committed to strengthening and promoting the leadership of elected officials within local governments by representing more than 218 million Americans. As part of its mission to create stronger communities, the Leadership Training Institute provides local officials with professional development opportunities to assist then in promoting positive change and innovation within their communities. At the same time, seminars are designed to explore the nature and practice of local governmental leadership.

The NLC helps local leaders of more than 19,000 cities, towns and villages to build better communities.