About

Duarte is my kind of town…

  Margaret was born in Monrovia, California and resided in a number of different states during her life before settling here in the San Gabriel Valley in 1985.  She and her husband of 46 years, Brad, have raised their 5 children here since that time.  All five of their children, Megan, James, Ian, Alana and Evan, have attended Duarte public schools. They all have graduated from Duarte High School and have gone on to graduate from four-year universities, with some of them returning to the Los Angeles area to pursue graduate schools at UCLA and USC. One son, James, is a clinical veterinarian at the City of Hope and is also an Assistant Research Professor at the graduate school there.  Another son, Ian, graduated from UCLA and his family are also proud residents of our city.  Margaret’s parents, Ed and Helen Ferguson, also lived in Duarte.  Margaret and Brad's grandchildren also attend the Duarte Public Schools.

Margaret has a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from St. Mary’s College at Notre Dame, in Indiana.  Her Masters Degree is in Public Administration from Cal State Long Beach, where she has been an adjunct professor in the graduate school in Public Policy.

Margaret has been a member of the Duarte City Council since 1990 and has served as Mayor of Duarte seven times.   She began her community service career working in the local PTAs where she has been President of both local and district units.  Margaret also teaches Sunday School in her church and sings in the church choir. She also has served as President of the Duarte Education Foundation for over 30 years, which exists solely to raise money to improve the lives of all students attending Duarte public schools, as well as citizens of the community.  The Foundation has raised over a million dollars in that time to benefit the schools, and is currently working to raise additional moneys for scholarships, musical instruments, Wishing Well Grants for teachers, reading improvement programs in our elementary schools, and Little Libraries throughout the city.

Margaret is also active in the Duarte Rotary Club and has been a member since 2005. She is the current President of the Club and believes that there is no greater calling than to give back to her community. The Duarte Rotary Club has park clean-ups, does the breakfast with the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, raises money to give out free books to school children, and also engages in international projects in Central America.

Over the past 30 years that Margaret has served on the City Council, she has been elected by her peers from other cities to serve on many regional, state and national boards, such as the National League of Cities, League of California Cities, Liability Trust Fund Oversight Committee of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs, California Joint Powers Insurance Authority (President of the Board), Personnel Committee of the Sanitation Districts, Southern California Association of Governments(SCAG) President, and LAFCO Representative for Los Angeles County. She also was the President of the California Contract Cities Association. 

Locally she continues to lead the fight for cleaner air in cities along the foothills by promoting air quality monitoring stations for the region as well as funding for the Gold Line extension, that will ultimately reduce traffic congestion.   Margaret is an advocate for good health and has worked with the city over the years to implement the Biggest Loser Contest and the Duarte Walking Club.  

Lowering the crime rate in Duarte has been of utmost importance to Margaret.   Part One crimes in Duarte have decreased by 3.5%,  making Duarte's crime rate lower than many foothill cities in the San Gabriel Valley.  Attracting business to our city has also been an important component of Margaret's city council tenure, culminating in the City of Duarte being named the 2012 Most Business Friendly City in Los Angeles County by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.  These are some of the many reasons that Margaret calls Duarte "Our Kind of Town"