Kern to be honored by Association of Defense Communities
St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark A. Kern has been selected to receive the Community Leadership Award from the Association of Defense Communities.
The honor, which comes in part for his longtime support of Scott Air Force Base, will be presented at the annual ADC National Summit June 18-20 in Washington, D.C.
Kern and the other award recipients will also be featured in an upcoming American Defense Communities magazine and they will be recognized throughout the summit.
The Community Leadership Award recognizes an individual whose leadership helps build a military-community partnership to enhance the mission of an active installation. A nominee may be an elected or appointed (non-military) official at the state, regional or local level, a volunteer, or the chief executive officer of a local redevelopment authority. Kern was nominated for the award by the St. Clair County Intergovernmental Grants Department.
The letter of nomination included many achievements Kern has accomplished in recent years in boosting Scott AFB and the county’s relationship to it, among them: spearheading the enactment of a Joint Land Use study of the acreage around the airport in order to protect it from encroachment; creation of a new position, the county director of military affairs; creation and sponsorship of the annual St. Clair County Armed Forces Ball; efforts to retain talent in the county among the exiting airmen of Scott AFB; longtime involvement with the Bell-Scott Committee; his efforts at getting the new Rieder Road interchange on Interstate 64, which serves the base area; and efforts that led to construction of housing and a school serving the base.
