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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels August 27, 2004 Three vie for Talent council seat By Steve Zimmerman Ashland Daily Tidings Talent voters will have one three-way race to decide out of four open council seats, as well as four ballot measures to decide in the Nov. 2 general election. The one race for council takes place for Seat 4 as Ray Cecil (RC) Davis, Edwin J. (EJ) McManus II and Wendy Siporen square off. Davis was unhappy to be in a three-way race. "That is one of the problems," he said. "The way the charter is set up, everybody can run in the same position. They won't tell you who is running in that position. So Seats 2, 3 and 6 are empty. I asked the clerk who else was running and she said she couldn't tell me. I could have run for any seat but I chose Seat 4." Davis also wants to see the city better deal with growth. "The growth we are having is unbelievable," he said. "Since we got our own water supply, they have opened up the housing to building like there is no tomorrow. We need to do something to slow that down so we can get our infrastructure better prepared. Talent Avenue is just deteriorating unbelievably and Rapp Road is not very good." Davis also feels the city should be more Wal-Mart friendly and needs to being more business into town by being more business friendly. "I am very conservative and am not liberal at all," he said. "The people I am talking too are screaming about how liberal our little town is. I think we need to tighten up and be a little more conservative." McManus, 23, said his campaign platform is simple. "I want to preserve the strength and promote the future of Talent," he said. "Talent is seeing an influx of young and old families and has a diverse ethnic makeup." Because of that diverse growth, he feels the new civic center, if used wisely, could be a boon to the city. But he is not yet ready to declare his support for the ballot measure on the civic center. "Another area of concern for me is the renovation of Hwy. 99 and a traffic light at Crow Road," McManus said. "That light would be helpful. It would probably change the speed some but it would help alleviate the problem of the impaired visibility due to the location." Attempts to reach Siporen for comment were unsuccessful. Seat 2 will go to William H. Smart, Jr.; Dawn Watson will remain in Seat 3 and Brian Roberts will take over Seat 6. There are also four ballot measures to be decided. Measure 15-50 will ask voters to authorize the issuance of general obligation bonds in the amount not to exceed $5,000,000 to finance the cost of designing and building a new civic center complex. The civic center would include a new city hall and community activity center. Also included would be funds to renovate the current Talent Police Station. Ballot Measure 15-51 would approve the imposition of a five-year local option tax for parks and recreation programs. The tax would be $.30 per $1,000 of assessed value of property. The money would be used to maintain city parks and develop recreation activities for youth and adults. Ballot Measure 15-52 would amend the Talent City Charter to allow the city council to adopt an ordinance permitting the placement of liens on property to collect unpaid water bills. Ballot Measure 15-53 would amend the city charter to require the presence of four council members to create a quorum for the purposes of voting on city business. Those not yet registered to vote can visit the County Election Office in Talent City Hall to register. The deadline is Oct. 12. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams