Qualifications
The Special Service Award is presented to individuals who have notable association or affiliate activity and significant professional accomplishments, including private interests, family interests, acts of heroism, charitable acts, or social accomplishments.
Past Recipients
| Year | Recipient | Reason for Award | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | John Downs | For personal courage in subduing an invader in his home | |
| 1994 | Peter Burchard | For extraordinary volunteer work for the betterment of his community | |
| 1995 | Larry Arft | For efforts as Chair of the 1994 ICMA Host Committee | |
| 1996 | Greg Bielawski | For work with the IML and the pension committee | |
| 1996 | Ingrid Velkme | For volunteer efforts to keep her Latvian heritage alive | |
| 1997 | Pat McDonald | For serving four communities as their first time administrator | |
| 1997 | John Perry | For work establishing the partnership between ILCMA and IML during the IML Conference | |
| 1998 | David Limardi | For establishing the Sommers Foundation | |
| 1998 | Joe Cavallaro | For establishing the Sommers Foundation | |
| 1998 | Bob Kiely | For establishing the Sommers Foundation | |
| 1998 | Al Rigoni | For establishing the Sommers Foundation | |
| 1999 | Bill Balling | For leadership in intergovernmental activities | |
| 2000 | Kurt Bressner | For research on relationships among mayors, councils, and staff | |
| 2000 | Cam Davis | For IAMMA leadership | |
| 2001 | Bernie Oglietti | For establishing the ILCMA awards program and celebrating accomplishments | |
| 2001 | Paul Reaume | For educating communities on the virtue of council-manager government | |
| 2002 | Gregory Kuhn | For work on public sector CEO evaluations | |
| 2003 | Stephen Berley | For service as a Range Rider | |
| 2003 | Kenneth Marabella | For leadership among Lake County managers | |
| 2003 | Mark Peterson | For support of small community professionals | |
| 2004 | John Dixon | For service to community | |
| 2004 | Ray Bockman | For leadership role in encouraging counties to think about employing professional managers and being instrumental in maintaining professional liaison among those managers | |
| 2004 | Bradford J. Townsend | For work while serving troubled communities | |
| 2004 | Carol Zar | For leadership of ILCMA | |
| 2005 | Russ Loebe | For his outstanding service as Chairperson of the Illinois Municipal League Manager Committee | |
| 2005 | Hank Sinda | For his instrumental role in forming the Southwestern Illinois City Management Association (SWICMA) | |
| 2005 | Ken Marabella | For his outstanding leadership and contributions to the Mundelein Community for over 30 years | |
| 2005 | David Limardi | For his service as ICMA Midwest Vice President and his decades of service to Illinois communities and to the ILCMA | |
| 2005 | Valerie Salmons | For her decades of service to Bartlett, ICMA, ICMA-RC Board, ILCMA, IAMMA, Metro Managers, NIU, and the state of Illinois | |
| 2006 | Bradford J. Townsend | For outstanding service to the Illinois City / County Management Association | |
| 2007 | Robert R. Kiely, Jr. | For his outstanding service to the community and his leadership in getting regional transportation through the Sunrise Express commuter rail service | |
| 2007 | Patrick Burelle | For his outstanding service to the community as exemplified by his efforts to implement code enforcement where none existed in the City of Aledo | |
| 2007 | James H. Norris | For his his leadership within his organization as well as the many organizations with which he is involved, including, but not limited to, ILCMA, ICMA, Northwest Municipal Conference, and the NIU MPA Board of Advisors | |
| 2008 | John M. Mezera | For his nearly 32 years of service to the City of Joliet and the numerous development projects that were accomplished for the community. | |
| 2008 | William T. Lichter | For his nearly 23 years of service to the Village of Lombard where he helped to secure the long-term financial health of the community through numerous development projects. | |
| 2008 | John Novinson | For his efforts to promote sustainability through his chairmanship of the Clean Air Counts Committee for the Metropolitan Mayor’s Caucus and the ICMA Environmental Mandates Task Force as well as service to the ICMA Sustainability Committee and the Public Works Committee. | |
| 2008 | Michael Baker | For his outstanding service to the association and his leadership as co-chair of the Promote the Profession Committee. He has represented the ILCMA interests through communication with ILCMA members about various issues impacting the profession at ILCMA conferences, IAMMA meetings, and various other events throughout the State. | |
| 2009 | Peter Burchard | For outstanding service to the profession for his mentorship of aspiring young professionals as well as his commitment to quality by working with local government associations and higher education programs to encourage the pursuit of excellence and innovation. | |
| 2009 | John Novinson | For outstanding service to the association as exemplified by his fundraising efforts for the ICMA Fund for the Profession. | |
| 2010 | David Limardi | For outstanding service to the profession for his leadership as ICMA President and compassion for fellow managers and assistants and continuous exuberance and passion for the profession. | |
| 2010 | John Phillips | For outstanding service to the profession for his years of service and support of the local government management profession and his mentorship and support for fellow managers. | |
| 2011 | Larry Maholland, CPA | For serving as the first city administrator for the city of St. Charles where his leadership was instrumental in the development of the City during a time of transition as well as for his service to many organizations within the St. Charles community and the region. | |
| 2011 | Thomas Borchert | For forty years as a public servant in local government, twenty-seven of which he served as the city manager for the city of Elmhurst as well as for his service to many organizations within the community and the Chicago Metro region. | |
| 2012 | James Hayner | For thirty-four year public service career in Gurnee and his many contributions to organizations within the community and the region. | |
| 2012 | Jennifer Maltas | For her fundraising efforts for the American Cancer Society and Relay for Life team, Courtney’s Crusadaers. Through her efforts her team has rasied over $120,000 over the past nine years. | |
| 2013 | William Ganek | For outstanding service to the community of Algonquin and for over thirty-five years of public service. | |
| 2013 | Anne Marie Gaura | For outstanding service to the profession for creating the Women’s Legacy Project. | |
| 2013 | Heidi Voorhees | For outstanding service to the profession for her support of members for career development. | |
| 2013 | Blaine Wing | For outstanding service to the association for his work to assist ILCMA in providing professional development through video technology to ILCMA members. | |
| 2014 | William Dixon | For outstanding service to the association through his work on the professional conduct committee and service on ILCMA board. | |
| 2014 | Tim Gleason | For outstanding service to the community of Washington, IL after the devastating tornadoes of November 2013. | |
| 2014 | Marian Gibson | For outstanding service to the profession through her leadership in the Will County Managers and Administrators Association and the Will County Municipal League. | |
| 2015 | Katy Rush | For tireless work to support her community beyond duties as Village Administrator, most notably her efforts to Woodridge Rotary Club where she has been instrumental in the Recycling Extravaganza for the Village and her work with the Rotary Club Mini Triathlon. | |
| 2015 | Randy Bukas | For creating an ad hoc group of professional local government administrators/managers in the south central portion of the state of Illinois and coordinating meetings of the group. | |
| 2016 | Don Rose | For his outstanding service and leadership to the local government management profession as indicated by his service to the city of Wheaton for 42 years. | |
| 2016 | David Nord | For his outstanding service and leadership to the local government management profession as indicated by introducing professional local government management to the city of Dixon. | |
| 2016 | Mark Rooney | For his outstanding service and leadership to the local government management profession as shown through his support of members in transition. | |
| 2016 | Anne Marrin | For her outstanding service and leadership to the community of Fox Lake and her display of integrity in the face of adversity. | |
| 2016 | Matt Fritz | For his outstanding service and leadership to the community of Coal City and Grundy County during a time of crisis. | |
| 2016 | Roger Barrowman | For his outstanding service and leadership to the Coal City community after the tornado devastation. | |
| 2018 | Brian Murphy | For his outstanding service to the community for the creation of The Big Serve weekend and the Plainfield Legacy Fund. | |
| 2018 | Mike Baker | For his outstanding service to the association over the past ten years. | |
| 2019 | Dorothy David | For her outstanding service to the association and her leadership on strategic initiatives involving DEI. | |
| 2019 | Steve Vinezeano | For his outstanding service and accomplishments for the city of Niles. | |
| 2019 | Lowell Crow | For his outstanding service and leadership to the local government management profession as indicated by introducing professional local government management to the city of Freeport. | |
| 2021 | Evan Michel | For his outstanding service to the association for assistance in creating the Mentor Match program. | |
| 2021 | Nancy Hill | For her outstanding service to the association for stepping into the role of summer conference chair when a vacancy suddenly occurred. | |
| 2021 | Philip Kiraly | For his outstanding service to the community for his fundraising for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. | |
| 2021 | John Doria | For his outstanding contributions to ILCMA as a corporate partner including presenting professional development and conference sessions, starting a Young Professional in Local government networking group, and running summer conference social events that greatly enhanced the conferences. | |
| 2022 | Joan Walls | For outstanding service to her community through her leadership, creative vision, and incredible commitment to address some of the greatest challenges and help the most vulnerable members of the Champaign community. | |
| 2022 | Stephanie Dawkins | For outstanding service to the profession as a mentor, adjunct professor, supportive colleague, and active participant in local government professional and community organizations. | |
| 2022 | Kimberly Richardson | For her outstanding service to the association. She has been actively involved in ICMA, ILCMA, IAMMA, Legacy Project, the League of Women in Government, the National Forum for Black Public Administrator, and the IL Public Employer Labor Relations Association, having served as president of IAMMA and Legacy. | |
| 2022 | The Legacy Project Founders | The Legacy Project was founded in 2011 for the purpose to advance women in local government. The Legacy Founders instrumental in the founding are Anne Marie Gaura, Katy Rush, Ingrid Velkme, Jamie Ludovic, Megan Pierce, Sharon Peterson, Ellen Baer, Kim Nelson, Mera Johnson, and Heidi Voorhees. | |
| 2023 | Jason Bielawski | For his outstanding service to the profession as demonstrated by his mentorship of emerging leaders, participation in the various internship programs, and promotion of the profession to college and high school students. | |
| 2023 | Cari Anne Ergo | For her service to the community through her work as the Chairperson of the Coalition to Stop CPKC, a collaborative partnership between 8 communities plus DuPage County formed to stop the Canadian Pacific’s plan to increase freight traffic along the Milwaukee District West rail line by more than 300%. | |
| 2023 | Grant Litteken | For his service to the profession by serving as a mentor to many young professionals in the southern IL region. He is also the glue that holds SWICMA together. He continues to help recruitment by developing and fostering relationship with potential new members. | |
| 2023 | Jennifer McMahon | For her service to the profession and demonstrated concern for the support, well-being and growth of other professionals and those aspiring to a career in local government management. | |
| 2023 | Adam Simon | For his service to the association. Adam has been instrumental in the success of the ILCMA Idea Exchange, a program that was developed at the start of the pandemic. | |
| 2023 | Ghida Neukirch | The ILCMA Resiliency in Leadership Award recognizes a member who has exemplifies the power of collective action and community resilience, even amidst difficult circumstances. Ghida led her community through the tragedy of the Highland Park July 4 shooting and has shared her with ILCMA members by presenting a professional development event about lessons learned. | |
| 2024 | Jim Moran Melanie Santostefano |
For their service to the association in the creation of the ILCMA LocalGovStories podcast series. |
