Palatka Vice Mayor Mary Lawson Brown Receives Florida League of Cities’ E. Harris Drew Municipal Official Lifetime Achievement Award
Contact: Jenna Titcomb, (850) 701-3674
Palatka Vice Mayor Mary Lawson Brown Receives Florida League of Cities’ E. Harris Drew Municipal Official Lifetime Achievement Award
Tallahassee – The Florida League of Cities today announced Palatka Vice Mayor Mary Lawson Brown is this year’s recipient of the E. Harris Drew Municipal Official Lifetime Achievement Award.
After receiving the award, Vice Mayor Brown expressed her appreciation to the Palatka City Commission.
“I am very honored that my city nominated me for this award,” Vice Mayor Brown said. “I’m grateful because we have such a hardworking commission.”
Brown, the first woman and first African-American elected to the Palatka City Commission, is deeply involved in issues important to local government. During her 28 years of service to Palatka, she has been an active and progressive public servant, sitting on dozens of advisory boards and committees, including the Florida League of Cities Board of Directors and Executive Committee and the Northeast Florida League of Cities Board of Directors.
“I’ve always been people-oriented. My desire to want to help people is deep-rooted, coming from both my parents and my grandparents,” Brown said. “In fact, my grandmother owned a hospital in Palatka from 1918 to 1958 that served both African-Americans and whites. I’ve lived in Palatka my whole life, except for attending school.”
Brown has also received numerous state and local awards including the Florida League of Cities Council Person of the Year as part of the Florida Cities of Excellence Awards Program.
During the award presentation, outgoing Florida League of Cities President Pat Bates called Brown “an inspiration, a role model and the ‘voice of the people.’”
A champion for minority business start-ups, Brown is currently working with area banks and other local officials to establish a business incubator in Palatka as part of the local neighborhood redevelopment effort.
Brown is well known in state and federal legislative circles. During her political career, she has convinced state and federal legislators to provide millions of dollars to the City of Palatka for transportation, parks and recreation, infrastructure, historic and private housing renovation programs, tourism and economic development.
About 20 years ago, Brown organized the “Pride of Palatka” Riverboat Committee to bring a riverboat to Palatka and the St. Johns River to promote economic development and education opportunities. The committee has obtained more than $1 million in federal and state grants to purchase and operate a ferry/riverboat, which will be operational before the end of 2012.
The annual award, presented during the Florida League of Cities 86th Annual Conference, is named in memory of Florida Supreme Court Justice E. Harris Drew, a former first vice president of the Florida League of Cities who coined the organization’s motto, “Local Self-Government, the Keystone of American Democracy.”
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ABOUT THE FLORIDA LEAGUE OF CITIES: Founded in 1922 on the belief that local self-government is the keystone of American democracy, the Florida League of Cities is the united voice for the state’s municipal governments, representing more than 400 cities, towns and villages in the Sunshine State. For more information, visit www.FloridaLeagueOfCities.com.
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