MARTINSVILLE — In little more than 10 years time, Ryan Manley has worked his way up in the Martinsville Police Department, and as of Monday night, he now finds himself at the top.
During the city council meeting Monday night, the new title was made official — Martinsville Police Chief Ryan Manley — as he was sworn in by mayor Kenny Costin to replace former chief Rick Lang, who retired at the end of the year.
“I’m just humbled,” Manley said by phone Tuesday. “To look up last night and see probably 25 of our (PD) guys, and guys from the county, I’m just overwhelmed by the support.”
An ’03 grad of Martinsville High School, Manley first joined Martinsville PD as a reserve officer in 2012. Then in August 2015, he joined the force full time, and he’s gained broad experience ever since, from K9 officer and field training officer to sergeant shift supervisor and major of operations. Last year, he was promoted to deputy chief.
Tuesday, he voiced his gratitude for the faith city leaders have placed in him, and his eagerness to serve the city, its citizens and his fellow officers at the department.
During Monday night’s meeting, Costin also swore in Josh Brown as deputy chief of the department.
In other business
- The council voted to keep Phil Deckard Jr. as president of the council.
- They also voted to keep councilwoman Ann Miller on the plan commission, to put councilman John Badger on the redevelopment commission, to put councilman Ben Mahan on the board of the Morgan County Economic Development Corp. and to keep Eric Anderson on the police merit board.
- The council approved $1,222,625 in claims.
- The council approved an encroachment agreement for a property owner in the city whose property abuts a city parcel. The property owner uses the city property to access a portion of their land, and a formal agreement was needed.
The next city council meeting will be Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. in council chambers, 59 S. Jefferson St.
Board of Works
The Martinsville Board of Works and Safety (BOW) met Monday night and approved its annual agreement for services with the Morgan County Economic Development Corp. (EDC)
“It’s that time of year again,” said EDC executive director Mike Dellinger, “the first of the year when the EDC comes back to you as one of our major investors.”
Dellinger said he’s looking forward to continuing his work with the city and Costin, who Dellinger is hoping to make president of the EDC’s executive committee.
Per the mayor’s priorities, Dellinger is also looking to “find the sites that can be developed for commercial growth” in the city, in addition to more housing developments.
“That continues to be the focus of the mayor we want to support,” Dellinger said.
The BOW voted to approve the annual agreement at a price of $60,000.
City planner?
The BOW also approved a job description for a city planner.
After the city’s former director of planning and engineering Gary Oakes retired last month, the city is hoping to replace him with either a city planner or a city compliance officer with a max salary of $75,000 a year.
Oakes, while not an engineer, was the highest paid city employee at more than $114,000 a year.
“We didn’t see a need to hire a city engineer,” Costin said, hoping the city could get “a better bang for our buck” by hiring one or the other — but not both.
Later during the city council meeting, Deckard said he would like to see the city have its own engineer.
Deckard compared the position to a general practitioner physician, who knows his patients’ history and background and can refer to specialists as needed.
“That’s kind of like the city engineer,” he said.
Right now, the city contracts out with an engineering firm to meet the state requirement of a city engineer.
The next meeting of the BOW is Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers, 59 S. Jefferson St.
