Accelerate Indiana Municipalities (AIM) honored long-serving Plymouth Street Superintendent Jim Marquardt with the 2020 Ivan H. Brinegar Municipal Management Award during the President’s Reception at the annual AIM Ideas Summit.
Formerly known as the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, AIM serves as the premiere education and advocacy organization for city and town governments throughout the state. Each year, AIM presents the Ivan H. Brinegar Municipal Management Award to an appointed municipal official with a minimum of 10 years of city or town service who displays strong leadership, contributions to the community, and serves as a role model to citizens and other municipal officials.
Jim Marquardt began working with the Plymouth Street Department in August of 1985. Through the years, his leadership was recognized and he was appointed department head on January 1, 2000, by Mayor Jim Yeazel. He has continued in that role ever since. Beyond his work for the City, Jim has been actively engaged in the community and in professional organizations: serving as a volunteer EMT with the Plymouth Fire Department from 1984-1990; graduating from Leadership Marshall County Class VIII; serving on the Leadership Marshall County Board of Directors since 2005; serving as a member of the Marshall County EMA Board; and as a member of the Indiana Street Commissioner’s Association, and as that organization’s 2013 Street Commissioner of the Year.
Mayor Mark Senter said, “Jim is the quintessential quiet leader. He goes about his business managing more than 20 employees without fanfare or plaudits. He and his staff just get the job done the best and most efficient way they know how.” Under Jim Marquardt’s leadership, Plymouth has undertaken thousands of dollars of new sidewalk construction and millions of dollars of new street improvements, consistently improving the quality of the City’s transportation network. “Jim has been a trusted member of my leadership team and a strong partner in the City’s many successes over the years. I congratulate him on this well-deserved honor,” Mayor Senter also stated.
