Press Release
September 29, 2010
For more information contact: Shane Woolbright, General Manager, 405 323 2569
Duncan Mayor Gene Brown was presented with the Meritorious Service Award for outstanding contributions to local government by the Municipal Electric Systems of Oklahoma (MESO) in Oklahoma City today at the annual convention of MESO member cities and the Oklahoma Municipal League. The meritorious service award is given annually to an individual who has provided outstanding leadership to his community and to the State over a period of 25 or more years.
Gene Brown fits the role of leader. He has been a council member or mayor for 26 years. His leadership has led to his election or appointment to many boards and commissions. He was an original board member of the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority, the agency providing power to the city where he was elected by the other member cities of OMPA in 1981. He was appointed and gained State Senate approval of his position on the board of the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. He has been a boy scout leader, President of the Chisholm Trail Kiwanis Club, a 32nd degree Mason, Board Chair of the Chisholm Trail Hospice, and Deacon and financial secretary to the Antioch Baptist Church. In the area of regional government, he has been elected to the board of the Association of South Central Oklahoma Governments.
During his time on the OMPA Board, he worked on the policies that carried that agency from a few pieces of paper outlining ideas for a municipal power agency and helped direct it to becoming a state agency with over $600 million in assets and power service to 39 cities.
For his work he has been recognized with induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame for City and Town Officials. MESO is the state trade association of 105 cities operating electric and natural gas distribution systems. Gene has long been a strong supporter of public power and on many occasions has accompanied staff to Washington to work for legislation positive for city governments. For these and his many contributions to his municipality, MESO was pleased to recognize Gene for his more than 25 years of dedicated service.
