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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
COMMEMORATING THE LIFE AND MEMORY OF THE HONORABLE JOAN BARR-SMITH
WHEREAS, Mayor Joan Barr broke the glass ceiling and made history in the city of Evanston politics when she was elected the first woman mayor of the city in 1985; and
WHEREAS, Mayor Joan Barr died March 21, leaving behind a lasting legacy of positive change that is realized both in the sustained prosperity of Evanston as well as the full involvement of women in their local government; and
WHEREAS, Mayor Barr confronted frequent challenges during her two terms as mayor. She boldly confronted the city's enduring and problematic landfill issue. She deftly faced the contentious issue of downtown re-development. She played a major role in diplomatically addressing the needs of the rapidly growing city; she was an early champion of smart development and the building of the Evanston Public Library, improvements that have helped make Evanston what it is today; and
WHEREAS, Mayor Joan Barr was a tireless civil servant who diligently served the city of Evanston first, as alderman for eight years and later as mayor for eight years. She was uniformly regarded as collegial and respectful. She was a consensus builder who worked to get results through full participation and arduous debate and without rancor or aggression; and
WHEREAS, Joan Barr-Smith was dedicated to church life and was a prominent and treasured member of the Episcopal Church. She was a deacon in the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago in 2007 and later was ordained as a deacon at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Evanston. She was well known and admired in the Saint Mark Congregation as the champion of countless outreach projects to the community. She will long be remembered for her tireless work in the church's monthly food drives and annual collections of mittens and scarves as well as the hours she spent caring for parishioners who were sick or home-bound. She later became active with Gr...
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