Editor’s Note: This is a Daily News series featuring past winners of the Bobby Dunavant Public Service Awards, which annually honor one elected and one non-elected government official. The 2012 awards will be presented Feb. 22.

McDONALD
(Photo: Lance Murphey)

Keith McDonald isn’t finished.

The longtime owner of an insurance agency in Bartlett who got into town politics some 15 years ago, first as an alderman then 10 years ago as mayor, had at least three terms on his mind early on. That’s how long he figured he’d need, at a minimum, to get acclimated and then start accomplishing big things for the Memphis suburb.

Those plans, though, have been somewhat ambushed by the economy as well as a seminal moment that’s arrived for Memphis and all of the suburban towns that encircle it – the opportunity to fundamentally reshape public education throughout Shelby County.

Memphis and Shelby County are still laying the groundwork of a single, unified school district, and several suburbs are pursuing plans for their own municipal school districts – a tantalizing prospect for towns like Bartlett, the mayor of which said its citizens are eager for the chance to take control of their own destiny when it comes to public schools.

“I think that’s something our citizens have made very clear that, if we can find a way to do it, they would like for us to pursue that,” said McDonald, who is in the second year of his third term as mayor. “That’s kind of the direction we’re in right now.

“We have wanted the opportunity to have some kind of special or municipal system for years. And if we have success in the new unified system, if we have success in the municipal system, I believe we’ll be able to do more and better economic development in the future. People will come here and say, ‘Oh yeah, they’ve got great schools and great options for schools.’”

It would be another big leap for a town that’s made plenty of them during the time McDonald – who also is a past winner of a Bobby Dunavant Public Service Award – has spent in politics.

This is the latest in The Daily News’ Memphis Standout series on past winners of the Dunavant Awards, which are designed to promote better government leadership. The awards honor one elected official and one non-elected official each year.

The honorees selected by the Dunavant family and the Rotary Club of Memphis East will be announced at a luncheon Feb. 22 at 11:45 a.m. at the Holiday Inn University of Memphis, 3700 Central Ave. Brad Martin of The Martin Institute will be the keynote speaker.

The award is also sponsored by The Daily News and the University of Memphis.

Friends and family encouraged McDonald the businessman to enter political life in what the town’s mayor calls “the biggest small city in Tennessee.”

“We’re the 10th largest city in Tennessee now,” he said. “When I started out 30 years ago, there were 3,000 or 4,000 people in Bartlett proper. Now there’s 54,000. So it’s grown by leaps and bounds in the 10 years I’ve been mayor. Even in the economic downturn, we’ve held our own – both financially and in terms of housing stock.”

As the town grows, McDonald has noticed less availability of volunteers for town boards and activities than there used to be, something he attributes as natural because of both the town’s size and increasing demands on peoples’ time in the current economy.

Even so, he’s happy with the small-town feel Bartlett has maintained. And he attributes success in his professional and political lives to his family.

“My wife and I just had our 40th wedding anniversary,” McDonald said. “And my grown children are still here in the community and doing well, so I’m really proud of them.”