Contact:
Jessica Weirauch
Michigan Municipal League
[email protected], 734-669-6311
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 23, 2024
Ann Arbor, Mich. — The Michigan Municipal Executives (MME) honored the late, former MME President Christine Burns with the John M. Patriarche Distinguished Service Award. The award was presented at the Michigan Municipal League 2024 Convention on Mackinac Island on Thursday, September 12. Burns’ husband, Bill Burns, accepted the award on her behalf.
“For a lot of us, she was a friendly voice of advice,” said MME President Christian Wuerth. “She was a person who we turned to when we needed some uplifting. I know that with the work she did in promoting younger professionals, particularly with women, she has left a profound impact. All of us have a story about Chris and how she helped us in one way or another, whether that was moral support or walking us through a difficult situation.”
The Patriarche Award is the highest honor given by MME and is bestowed on longtime members of the association who have created an incredible impact as municipal leaders. Recipients are honored for their work to foster representative democracy, innovative programming and projects and leadership through character and professionalism.
Christine Burns had more than 30 years of experience as a municipal official. She served as village manager of Spring Lake 2012–2023, after serving the City of Cedar Springs for more than five years and the Village of Oxford for two years. She also served the City of Clare for more than 14 years.
Burns graduated from Central Michigan University (CMU) in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, majoring in management. She earned her master’s in public administration from CMU in 2006. She was a member of Michigan Municipal Executives (MME) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). She served on the MME Board of Directors and on the League’s Board of Trustees, MML Workers’ Compensation Fund Board of Trustees and as president for the West MI Local Government Management Association.
Learn more about the award and its past winners here.
For additional information, contact the League’s Jessica Weirauch, Director, Marketing and Communications, at 734-669-6311 or [email protected].
Michigan Municipal League is dedicated to making Michigan’s communities better by thoughtfully innovating programs, energetically connecting ideas and people, actively serving members with resources and services and passionately inspiring positive change for Michigan’s greatest centers of potential: its communities. The League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C. and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services. Learn more at mml.org.
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