A longtime public servant in Howell was honored Wednesday morning for his nearly 23 years of service.
Steve Manor, who was first elected to city council in November of 1999, was honored with a reception and surprise proclamation of appreciation outside Howell City Hall on Wednesday morning.
Through the years, Manor has served as Mayor Pro Tem, Brownfield Redevelopment Authority Chairperson, Council Representative on the Howell Area Parks & Recreation Authority Board, Ad Hoc Street Committee Member; DDA Main Street Volunteer; and City Delegate to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.
He told GIGO News that he was tremendously touched by the event as he prepares to step down for health reasons.
“I’ve had two careers in my life when I was teaching and now city council, 22 years on the council,” said Manor. “I’m starting to draw that to a close and I really appreciate the recognition and the respect that I feel and have always had from city staff, fellow council members, citizens and I’ll miss that, but times move on and I’m moving on.”
Howell Mayor Bob Ellis said Manor has provided steady, stable leadership in his years on council and he’ll look to that for inspiration.
“He’s a big role model and a mentor and he gives me something to aspire to,” said Ellis. “He was instrumental in getting the dog park going, the Parker Skate Park and with the Diversity Council, helping Howell become a more welcoming community and trying to get over the stigma that we’ve had from many years ago. Those are, those are among his greatest accomplishments.”
Manor says looking back on his more than two decades of service, there are points of pride in that timeframe.
“We saw a big revitalization of downtown, he said. “Although we had a DDA before that, we moved it to a Main Street program. We got some key people to come in and invest in our downtown. We invested a good deal of money to make it work, but it also was an effort to preserve what we have down there. And so it’s a great downtown, it’s a signature downtown, it’s a Main Street USA downtown, and it will remain that way.”
Manor says the other piece is the huge investment the city made in rebuilding many of the streets.
“We rebuilt, I think, 11 of our 33 miles of streets, including the water and the sewer,” said Manor. “So our infrastructure and underground infrastructure is in good shape. Of course there’s challenges. One of them is you have to maintain that and you have to keep reinvesting because there’s still 20 miles out there of other streets. So it’s always a challenge, but it’s been rewarding. And I look to see council move forward on that and the citizens have to be part of that to maintain our city as a great place to live.”
