Mary Hawkins Butler

Mary Hawkins Butler is an American politician and member of the Republican Party who has served as the Mayor of Madison, Mississippi since 1981. Commonly known as "Mayor Mary", she is serving her ninth consecutive four-year term as Mayor. First elected to office at age 26, she is one of the longest-serving Mayors in the United States.

Prior to serving as Mayor, she served as an Alderman. She earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration form Belhaven College. She also graduated from the FBI Citizens Academy Program in 2010.

Butler is running for State Auditor of Mississippi in the 2015 elections against incumbent Stacey E. Pickering in the Republican primary.^[1]

Career

Butler's efforts, combined with the efforts of city leaders, citizens and businesses, have resulted in numerous honors for the city, including being recognized in 2007 by Family Circle Magazine as one of the “Top 10 Towns for Families in America and in 2005 by CNN/Money Magazine as 55th among “The 100 Best Places to Live in the USA."

Butler was a charter member of the Madison the City Chamber of Commerce, a charter member of the Madison Lions Club, as well as a charter member of the Simmons Arboretum. Butler has received recognition and numerous awards for her service.

Recognition

• Hall of Fame Award presented by Keep Mississippi Beautiful
• Red Rose Award from the Omicron Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma for contribution in the field of education
• Executive Catalyst Inaugural Award for Public Service from Jackson State University
• First and only Mississippi recipient of the American Society of Landscape Architects Leadership
• Award in recognition of Outstanding Leadership for Quality of Life through design
• Industrial Volunteer of the year Award by the Mississippi Industrial Development Council
• Named Outstanding Board Member by the Home Place Board of Directors
• Volunteer of the Year at the Bond Home/Home Place
• Winner of the Mississippi Jaycees Outstanding Mississippian Award
• Received the Madison County Chamber Woman of the Year Award

Awards

• Received Good Housekeeping Award for Women in Government
• Featured as a “Hometown Hero” in American Profile magazine
• Past Chairman of the Governor’s Task Force that authored MS Hometown Retiree Plan
• Member of Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Mississippi Municipal League and
• Past President – the first female to be elected to the position
• First recipient of the Executive Women International Scholarship
• Past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System,
• Past Chairwoman of the PERS Administrative, Legislative and Election Committees
• American Community Leadership Award Honorable Mention by National Association of Towns and Townships
• Past Director, Regional Advisory Council for Bureau of Housing and Urban Development
• Former Board Member of the Natchez Trace Parkway Association and Past President
• Former Board Member of Madison County Economic Development Authority
• Former Board Member of the Human Services Center (Mental Health Center of MS)
• Former Member of the Southern Arts Federation, Southern Design Arts Task Force
• Former member of Belhaven College Board of Trustees

International Efforts

During her time as Mayor, Madison the City became a Sister City to Sollefteå, Sweden. Butler was recognized in 1998 by Sister Cities International as having the “Best First Year Program Worldwide” for cities under 100,000. She was named Member First Class of the Royal Order of the Polar Star by the King of Sweden in 2004. Madison was the first recipient city in the United States to have a 100% foreign-financed business incubator with assistance from the European Union.^[2]

Controversies

On April 23, 2015, Hawkins Butler gave her annual "State of the City Address." In this address, she compared city engineer Rudy Warnock to the corrupt state official Chris Epps. As a result, Warnock threatened to filed a lawsuit against Hawkins Butler.

Hawkins Butler has publicly stated that she thinks that the entire Madison Board of Directors is corrupt, even saying that all of its members need to be replaced.

References