RESOLUTION FOR BOARD MEETING OF NOVEMBER 17, 2022
Title
RESOLUTION sponsored by the Board of Commissioners honoring Vice President Barbara J. McGowan on her well-deserved retirement (As Revised)
Body
WHEREAS, Vice President Barbara J. McGowan has faithfully served the residents of Cook County as a MWRD Commissioner since 1998; and
WHEREAS, Vice President Barbara J. McGowan is retiring and her last Board of Commissioners meeting is November 17, 2022; and
WHEREAS, Vice President Barbara J. McGowan became seriously involved in politics in 1983, during the election of the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and worked as an Assistant to a Commissioner at the MWRD and as a Commissioner and Vice President; and
WHEREAS, Vice President Barbara J. McGowan was the first African American Vice President at the MWRD; she served as the first interim African American female President in December 2012 and December 2014, and she is the third longest serving Commissioner in the history of the District; and
WHEREAS, Vice President Barbara J. McGowan served with six MWRD Executive Directors: Frank E. Dalton, Hugh H. McMillan, John C. Farnan, Richard Lanyon, David St. Pierre and Brian A. Perkovich; and
WHEREAS, Vice President Barbara J. McGowan ensured that African American History Month was celebrated for the entire month of February and brought together such notable speakers as former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and Secretary of State Jesse White; and
WHEREAS, Vice President Barbara J. McGowan was instrumental in leading the Board to recognize the MWRD’s celebration of the Juneteenth holiday and recognizing the day as a holiday before the State of Illinois recognized it; and
WHEREAS, Vice President Barbara J. McGowan coined the phrase “Pink It Up” in 2022 to honor those employees, like herself, who are or were afflicted with breast cancer; and
WHEREAS, Vice President Barbara J. McGowan has been active in ensuring that minority and women contractors have an opportunity to perform work on MWRD contracts and are treated fairly. With the support of the Board of Commissioners, she took the lead in introducing changes to the MWRD’s MBE/WBE Affirmative Action Ordinance to include penalties for contractors that violate the ordinance; and
WHEREAS, Vice President Barbara J. McGowan initiated banking partnerships to invest in the community and encourage economic development in local African American Community banks; and
WHEREAS, Vice President Barbara J. McGowan served as a trustee on the MWRD Pension Board from 2007 to 2019 and served as Chair of the Affirmative Action and Procurement committees and Vice Chair of Budget & Employment, Pension, Human Resources & Civil Service; Public Information & Education; and Real Estate Development committees; and
WHEREAS, in 2004 Vice President Barbara J. McGowan supported state legislation that enabled the MWRD to become the stormwater management authority for Cook County, and along with the Board of Commissioners, unanimously adopted the Watershed Management Ordinance which established uniform stormwater regulations throughout Cook County in 2013; and
WHEREAS, Vice President Barbara J. McGowan supported the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan and advocated for the completion of the project in its entirety; the construction of disinfection facilities at both the Calumet Water Reclamation Plant and O’Brien Water Reclamation Plant; and the world’s largest phosphorus recovery facility placed into operation at the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant; and
WHEREAS, Vice President Barbara J. McGowan has been recognized for her exemplary support and commitment to the minority, women, and small business community and has been honored and received numerous awards and honors including: Induction into the National Civil Rights Hall of Fame in 2020, Cook County Democratic Women HERO Award; Austin Chamber of Commerce Better Business Award; the 2006 Public Service Award by the Federation of Women Contractors; the 2007 Public Services Award by the African American Contractors Association; the 2009 Public Service Award presented by the Cosmopolitan Chamber of Commerce; the Coalition for United Community Force Affirmative Action Advocate of the Year Graduate Award; the 2012 Suburban Minority Contractors Millennium Builders Award; the 2012 Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc. President’s Award; the 2015 Chicago Defender Newspaper Women of Excellence Award and the Austin Voice Newspaper Walmart Community Builder’s Award for Outstanding Public Service; the MWRD Trailblazer Award for Continued Commitment to Diversity and Inclusive Opportunity; the Danny K. Davis 2017 Outstanding Leadership Award; and the National Council of Negro Women Chicago Trailblazer Award; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, on behalf of ourselves and our staff, do hereby honor Vice President Barbara J. McGowan on her well-deserved retirement; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Main Office Building be named the "Barbara J. McGowan Main Office Building" in honor of her service as a member of the Board of Commissioners; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this Resolution be spread upon the permanent Record of Proceedings of the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and that a copy of same, suitably engrossed, be presented to Vice President Barbara J. McGowan.
Dated: November 17, 2022