Carroll Broadcasting: Main Street Manning has elected two business representatives to serve three year terms on the board of directors. Andy Rohe, a loan officer at First National Bank of Manning, and Jamie England, owner and operator of The Market Place, were unanimously elected to those seats. The Manning City Council has elected Anna Irlbeck, the Deputy City Clerk, to represent the city on the board for the 2016 calendar year. Officers were also elected at the recent meeting. Jill Arp will serve as the Secretary, Andy Rohe is the Treasurer, Greg Sextro is the vice-president elect and Ron Reischl was re-elected to the President position on the Main Street Manning Board. Terms will begin Jan. 1, 2016.   LINK

First of all, thanks to the Daily Times Herald and, in particular, Doug Burns, for offering the opportunity to provide a perspective on the happenings in Manning.  In addition, thanks to the Herald reporter, Rebecca McKinsey, for providing great coverage of our community!
Allow me to introduce myself.  I graduated from Manning High School, moved away for college and then spent 40 years in the corporate world with IBM.  I spent 30 of those years in Austin Texas.  Yes, I am a Longhorn fan….which is tough right now given our football record.  I moved back to Manning in 2008 and have been the Main Street Manning (MSM) Board President since January 2011.  The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to work with MSM Executive Director Colleen Nelson, Mayor Harvey Dales, City Administrator Dawn Rohe, City of Manning staff, Manning City Council and a great team of MSM volunteers.  In addition, we have a great relationship with the Carroll County Board of Supervisors, Region XII led by Rick Hunsaker and the Carroll Area Development Corporation led by Shannon Landauer.  Ok – enough for the introductions!  
Carroll County is blessed with many great citizens and communities.  I hope to provide insight into one of those communities.  Manning has a generations-long history of civic engagement by community members.  That sense of volunteerism continues in today’s hectic world.  While world turmoil permeates our daily lives, Manning volunteers energetically work to improve quality of life in our little section of the earth we occupy. 
Current projects being planned and/or worked are hiking/biking trails throughout town; development of Trestle Park - an “adult-activity oriented” park at the north end of Main Street; development of a hotel near the Hausbarn-Heritage Park; streetscaping on Main Street; public relations campaign being developed in partnership with a Drake University senior level class; installation of signs and awnings in partnership with Iowa Economic Development Authority and Iowa State University, Startup Business Bootcamp for Women in partnership with Drake University’s Entrepreneurship Center, façade improvements in the downtown business district, additional upper-story apartments, partnership with an AmeriCorps liaison to improve the health of community members, construction of the Dollar General store and the 36 unit Char-Mac Assisted Living Center; and others that my frail memory isn’t recalling at the moment… More information on these exciting projects and new 2016 projects to be provided in future columns.
Why do we say “Manning It’s Refreshing”?  I invite you to check out the Main Street Manning Facebook page for some of the reasons – including our recent and very successful Family Feud event.

Carroll Broadcasting: The progress and vision of Manning has been recognized yet again and they have been selected as one of 10 Iowa communities to participate in the Iowa’s Living Roadways Community Visioning Program for 2016. The program, sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation in partnership with Iowa State University Landscape Architecture Extension and Trees for Iowa integrates technical landscape planning and design techniques with sustainable community action. They will be offering expertise in creating conceptual design plans and will assist community leaders and volunteers in making sound and meaningful decisions about the local landscape. To qualify for the program, the community’s population must be less than 10,000, be facing existing transportation-related issues and have a committee of volunteers ready to dedicate their time and talent to the visioning process. In addition to Manning, other 2016 Visioning communities selected at this time include Carlisle, Colfax, Garrison, Hampton, Kalona, Monona and Stuart.  LINK