Marshall makes his mark

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: July 22, 2008

Elected public officials aren’t supposed to be seen and not heard. From the day they take their oaths of office, they’re sworn to represent the people who elected them.

Marshall Ecker has certainly taken that to heart. In his first year on the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, the Staunton River District supervisor has set himself apart.

“I felt that if you’re a public servant, you should be responsive to the constituency you’re serving,” he said recently.

Ecker cut his county salary 10 percent to $450 per month, supported the creation of a county recreation board and advocated higher fines for littering.

He supported putting a new roof on the Blairs Community Center and backed a plan to renovate the former Chatham Elementary School into much-needed county offices.

His most recent battle — over $7,000 for new sheriff’s office badges — ended when he learned from Sheriff Mike Taylor why the department needed them.

“That was invading on the morale of the sheriff’s department,” Board Chairman Coy Harville said of Ecker’s opposition to the badges.

Harville contrasted that initial opposition to $7,000 for badges with Ecker’s support for putting a new $260,000 roof on the Blairs building.

“If you’re going to be conservative, be conservative,” Harville said.

But Ecker has won praise from Chatham-Blairs Supervisor Hank Davis.

“He’s extremely studious,” Davis said. “He pores over everything. … Marshall is extremely conscientious and looking at where the dollars go.” Davis believes Ecker isn’t afraid to spend money where it’s needed, but only after the case has been made.

“I’m used to the private sector, where if you need something done, you do it,” Ecker said. He believes it is his duty to investigate, ask questions, look at the facts and “asking why are we doing things this way.”

If that’s the case, Ecker is in good company in Pittsylvania County. Despite the county’s fiscally conservative reputation, voters have recently supported a meals tax increase and a $70 million bond to renovate the high schools — two measures that passed only after the case was made to the public.

“I feel that I’ve already helped citizens in the Staunton River District and people outside my district,” Ecker said. If he keeps doing what he’s done, that will continue to be true.