Ephraim City doesn’t need a manager

03-14-2019

Brant Hanson’s resignation as Ephraim’s city manager reminds me how things have changed since the hiring of their first manager.

The justification for his hiring was that he would bring in more money from federal grants than he would cost. Then they hired a secretary to search and write federal grants and the manager manages the secretaries and various projects, not included in Ezra Taft Benson’s “proper role of government.”

I seldom hear from a city councilman on city business. The manager is spokesman in between the council, mayor and the people. This insulates the city government from the people and is government not by the elected people, but by bureaucracy.  It’s no wonder I feel unrepresented and removed from the city. A city manager by education and training are socialists. We need look no farther than Venezuela to see the fruits of this system.

If the city councilmen and mayor were really doing their job, not just attending city meetings to collect their $750 ($1000 for mayor) each per month, there would be no need for a city manager and the $150,000 could be used to meet the city’s obligations, without having to raise taxes.

The city’s income has increased with the increases of people, property tax, sales and miscellaneous taxes, so the city shouldn’t have to raise taxes for the basic services. Now is a great time to just forget about hiring a city manager.

Frank Crowther

Ephraim