RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Marc Gaynes has retired from the City of Chicago Department of Law following 30 years of dedicated public service; and
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago has been informed of this event by Alderman Edward M. Burke; and
WHEREAS, In 1976 Marc Gaynes graduated from Northwestern University and began working as a community organizer on the West and South sides of the City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, In 1981 Marc Gaynes graduated from the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C. and immediately returned to the City of Chicago to practice Law; and
WHEREAS, In 1985 Marc Gaynes joined the City of Chicago Department of Law and was appointed the special prosecutor for housing matters and a liaison between the City and community and neighborhood organizations; and
WHEREAS, Marc Gaynes prosecuted Chicago's most notorious slum lords in state and federal courts and successfully oversaw the award and collection of millions of dollars in court ordered fines, jail sentences, and the return of hundreds of buildings to the tax rolls; and
WHEREAS, Marc Gaynes initiated and prosecuted the first Civil RICO case the City of Chicago Department of Law ever filed which resulted in the award of sixteen million dollars to the City and the liquidation of the defendants' real estate holdings; and
WHEREAS, As the City's Supervising Assistant Corporation Counsel of the first Special Prosecutions Unit, Marc Gaynes prosecuted the owners of certain food processing facilities resulting in a record one hundred sixty million dollars fine levied in favor ofthe City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, Marc Gaynes was the first to Assistant Corporation Counsel to ever successfully prosecute an entire industrial complex, a group of 18 connected buildings, as a single entity resulting in their court ordered demolition; and
WHEREAS, While still supervising Special Prosecutions, Marc Gaynes became the trial supervisor of Municipal Prosecutions and concurrently supervised Traffic Court prosecutions; and
WHEREAS, In such capacities, working with the Circuit Court of Cook County and other governmental units, Marc Gaines designed and implemented new, regularly occurring court calls that targeted prosecutions of residential property owners and traffic fine collections; and
WHEREAS, Marc Gaynes designed, implemented and supervised the country's first system of municipal prosecution of cable and electronic signal theft resulting in millions of dollars of fine revenues for the City and received national recognition from governmental organizations and the television industry; and
WHEREAS, Beginning in 1997 Marc Gaynes served with distinction as departmental counsel successively to the City of Chicago Departments of Buildings, Zoning, Cable Communications and Planning & Economic Development; and
WHEREAS, In 2005 Marc Gaynes joined the City of Chicago Law Department Real Estate Division where he demonstrated a marked proficiency in all aspects of City land sales, acquisitions, condemnations, zoning and public way matters, including obtaining necessary City Council approvals for projects, while representing the City in numerous real estate and zoning matters in the Circuit Court of Cook County; and
WHEREAS, The hard work, sacrifice and dedication of Marc Gaynes serve as an example to all; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council, assembled this 28th day of May, 2014, do hereby express our sincere gratitude to Marc Gaynes for his many years of dedicated public service on behalf of the City of Chicago and do hereby express our warmest and best wishes on the occasion of his retirement; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Marc Gaynes.