Mila Cosgrove, right, who retired from her position as Deputy City Manager of the City and Borough of Juneau, received a commendation from the CBJ Assembly Monday night for her years of service to the city. This August 2011 file photo shows Cosgrove in her former position as CBJ Human Resources and Risk Management Director alongside former City Attorney Jane Sebens. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

Mila Cosgrove, right, who retired from her position as Deputy City Manager of the City and Borough of Juneau, received a commendation from the CBJ Assembly Monday night for her years of service to the city. This August 2011 file photo shows Cosgrove in her former position as CBJ Human Resources and Risk Management Director alongside former City Attorney Jane Sebens. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

City commends retired deputy city manager

Assembly thanks Mila Cosgrove for years of public service

Longtime public servant and outgoing Deputy City Manager Mila Cosgrove received a commendation from the city Monday, thanking her for her service before her retirement at the end of the month.

Holding back tears speaking to the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly meeting Monday night, City Manager Rorie Watt called Cosgrove’s work ‘superlative’ and said her work had made a profound impact on the city’s governance.

“It’s not easy running a city, when you have a Mila Cosgrove you can do so much more,” Watt said. “We’re a much better organization and we’re going to dearly miss you.”

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Cosgrove became deputy city manager in 2016 after spending nine years as the city’s human resources and risk management director, according to her CBJ biography. Robert Barr has fully taken over the position of deputy city manager, but Cosgrove will continue working until the end of August in her capacity as incident commander of the city’s Emergency Operations Center which oversees the city’s response to COVID-19.

Cosgrove was given special recognition at Monday’s meeting and presented with a bouquet of flowers.

“When I came to Juneau, I fell in love with public service, it was such a great culture when I arrived,” Cosgrove said. “I think I left it a little bit better than when I got here ,but it was already pretty darn good.”

• Contact reporter Peter Segall at psegall@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SegallJnuEmpire.

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