The outgoing chief executive of the long-range transportation planning agency for central Arkansas and his top deputy are the recipients of the 2016 Jack Evans Regional Leadership Award.
Jim McKenzie, executive director for Metroplan, and Richard McGee, the agency's deputy director and planning director, were accorded the honor by a committee of the Metroplan board of directors.
McKenzie is retiring at the end of the month after 28 years at the helm of the agency. McGee is ending his 42-year tenure with the agency at the same time.
"Both have made indelible marks on the communities that they have served so well for so long," the Metroplan board's nominating committee said in a statement announcing the award recipients.
Mayflower Mayor Randy Holland was chairman of the committee, which also included Saline County Judge Jeff Arey, Cabot Mayor Bill Cypert and Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola. Metroplan is composed of more than two dozen municipal and county governments in five counties in central Arkansas.
Metroplan sponsors the Jack Evans Award, named after a former Sherwood mayor. It has been presented annually since 1993 to an individual or organization for "outstanding public service in advancing sound planning and intergovernmental cooperation in central Arkansas."
Recent honorees include Central Arkansas Water; Hendrix College; state Sen. Jane English, R-North Little Rock; and former U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Ark. Rob Stephens, chairman of the Arkansas River Rail Task Force, was last year's recipient.
"It truly has been my honor and a pleasure to occupy what turned out to be one of the funnest jobs in the world for so long," McKenzie told board members Wednesday at his last board meeting as executive director. "I didn't intend for it to be for this long. I told [my wife, Beverly] when I first took the job that it would be for three to five years. But as each year that passed, there was new opportunities and new challenges."
He thanked board members and gave credit for the honor to his "excellent and dedicated staff."
"While I get this award, they earned this award," McKenzie said.
McGee didn't attend the meeting.
"He is the stubbornest human being I know, but he makes it a matter of principle not to receive personal honors for what he considers to be a group effort," McKenzie said. "He has served this region with the highest professional integrity for 42 years."
He said McGee's institutional knowledge was so integral to the organization that a new database the agency developed to house its records for the first time has been dubbed the "Richard McGee."
"My greatest accomplishment as a manager is talking Richard into not retiring until I could retire," McKenzie said.
In August, the agency board turned to one of its own members to replace McKenzie after a national search. Outgoing Conway Mayor Tab Townsell will formally succeed McKenzie next month.
Townsell, 55, has been mayor of Conway since 1999. He didn't seek re-election, and his fifth and final term ends Dec. 31. Townsell has not named anyone to replace McGee.
Metro on 12/15/2016