Manis running for Eton Council

By Misty Watson
Dalton Daily Citizen

June 26, 2008 10:19 pm

— Jeff Manis is ready for the city of Eton to be thought of as more than just the oldest section of the town across the railroad tracks from Highway 411.
“I live in Ridgecrest (off Highway 286) and it’s like they’ve (city officials) sort of left it out there. They’ve never tried to do anything with it,” said Manis, who is seeking a seat on the City Council.
Manis, who works for his family business Manis Logging, will face Traci Rankin in a special election on July 15 for Eton City Council Post 1. The seat was vacated when Billy Cantrell resigned to run for mayor after Greg Hogan resigned as mayor to run for Murray County sole commissioner.
Manis, 31 and a 1995 graduate of Murray County High School, grew up in Eton. He moved to Dalton for a few years and returned to Eton less than two years ago.
Manis says several of his neighbors don’t know that they live in the city limits, and he doesn’t think most of them would go to a council meeting if they had a problem.
“I want to be there for those people,” he said. “I would like to try to be a voice for them. We need speed limit signs. We have none. We have a bunch of kids there, and we need ‘slow children at play’ signs. We need street lights.”
Manis, who has a 13-year-old stepdaughter and a 4-year-old son, also wants to see more places for children to hang out, such as a skateboard park.
“I think we need to do some more stuff for the kids,” he said. “We have a bunch of playgrounds, but not everyone is at the right age for playgrounds. Some are into skateboarding.”
A group of teenagers skateboard in Manis’ subdivision.
“I think we should try to do a skateboard park and try to do something for those kids — not just those kids, but countywide. Anyone could use it ... just give them a place to hang out,” he said.
Manis also likes the idea of showing family oriented movies at the city park.
“I don’t know how to pay for those things (using the city’s $1.2 million budget),” he said. “I know that’s some stuff I would like to try to get done.”
Several businesses have opened in the city in the past few years, but Manis said he’s tired of seeing so many “dollar stores” open.
“We need more restaurants,” he said. “It’s a great place to live. It’s small, but I think if we get a really nice restaurant, (business) would really boom.”
Since there are not many businesses north of Eton on Highway 411 for several miles, Manis believes a restaurant in Eton would have a large customer base. But he didn’t have any specific plans to attract such a business.
Manis says he knows Eton needed a new, bigger City Hall because of all the growth in the city. But he believes too much money was put into the new City Hall, which is across the road from the previous City Hall on Highway 411. The building cost approximately $756,000 to purchase and renovate.
Manis would also like to see more police officers added to the city, which currently has three including the chief. There are times when no one is on duty.
“It’s not a big town, but someone always needs to be there,” Manis said. “The county helps, but if they are off somewhere else in the county, and an officer is not on duty, then there’s no one there if something happens in Eton.”
One of the first items the new council member will have to address is what to do about the city clerk, Kim Hall, who was recently charged with five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, allowing an unlicensed driver to drive and open container of alcohol in the vehicle.
There are not enough council members for a quorum currently so a decision can’t be made on how to handle Hall’s charges until after the election.
“The situation is bad,” Manis said. “I think that’s going to have to wait until someone is in there to get more details. I’m on the outside. I don’t have all the details ... She should have taken more responsibility than she did. I don’t know her. I don’t know what type of woman she is, but she probably needs to lose her job.”
Council members receive $75 per week.