Grovetown official says he's 'fortunate'

Richard "Dick" Manion spent the last few minutes before Monday's Grovetown City Council meeting intensely studying the three-ring binder of information about current city issues.

"I'm reading it backwards now," Manion said of the notebook he's already read several times.

He said he wanted to be prepared for his first official meeting as a Grovetown City Council member.

In the special election July 18, Grovetown residents elected Manion to complete the term of Marjorie Adams, which expires Dec. 31, 2007. Adams, 79, died Feb. 12 from complications from a Dec. 8 stroke.

Manion said he was sworn in a few days after the election.

"I am just very happy to be here," the 76-year-old said after the meeting. "I feel very fortunate to be representing the people of Grovetown."

Manion, a retired Army colonel, moved to Grovetown more than a year ago, after four years of living in Florida.

He formerly lived in Appling and spent four years in the mid-1990s as the chairman of the Columbia County Republican Party. He served on a number of boards, including the 1995 committee that studied incorporation of the county, and he is a former Georgia Senate candidate.

"Congratulations, and I hope you are ready to hit the ground running," Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem David Daughtry told Manion before the meeting.

Thanks to his new position, Manion's calendar is filling up quickly.

By the end of the meeting, he'd already obligated himself to attend a meeting to discuss the county's capital improvement project list.

Manion said he has lots of ideas for improvements inside the city.

"But I learned a long time ago to look and listen for a while," Manion said.