The hallmark of Spiro Manthou’s eight years on the Tacoma City Council was a quiet, apolitical approach that earned him a reputation, for good or for bad, as a man of few words.
When the District 1 councilman did speak, he did so plainly, often as a conservative voice of dissent to a council majority and, at times, to the prevailing sentiments spoken by Tacoma’s citizenry.
Manthou – who is leaving the council because of term limits – was “always steady and positively predictable,” Councilwoman Lauren Walker said. “… I could usually have a sense in what direction (he was) going.”
During his time on the council, Manthou rose from a greenhorn councilmember to a mentor for others on the council, became a defender of downtown business interests, and garnered his share of friends and enemies.
All the while, his quietness prevailed.
“I didn’t say a whole lot,” Manthou said. “But when I did, at least they knew where I was coming from.”
‘CAME OUT OF NOWHERE’
Born and raised in Tacoma, Manthou, 60, attended Downing Elementary and Mason Middle schools and graduated from Wilson High School. His wife, Sandy, is a Stadium High School grad. The couple raised three children in Tacoma’s West End.
Manthou worked for the City of Tacoma as a senior buyer in the finance department for eight years before taking a manager’s job at Bates Technical College in 1992.
In 1999, he challenged City Councilwoman Sharon McGavick, ruffling her feathers by questioning her spotty attendance at council meetings. Manthou lost the race, but he garnered 32 percent of the vote – a relatively strong showing for an upstart with no partisan ties.
Four years later, Manthou took another shot, challenging District 1 incumbent Doug Miller. Shortly after Manthou filed his candidacy, Police Chief David Brame shot and fatally wounded his wife, Crystal, and then killed himself.
Manthou campaigned as an outsider who contended the council’s downtown focus came at the expense of neighborhoods, but the Brame scandal became the race’s deciding issue.
When then-City Manager Ray Corpuz came under fire for not taking action against Brame earlier, despite knowing of domestic violence allegations, Miller sealed his own political fate by unsuccessfully voting to retain Corpuz as manager.
Manthou beat Miller by 180 votes.
“Spiro kind of came out of nowhere,” recalled former Mayor Bill Baarsma, who served on the council with Manthou for six years. “He was perceived as this kind of neighborhood populist, but that’s not exactly what he turned out to be. He was far more conservative, more cautious in his approach.”
Once Manthou was on the council, Baarsma assigned him to head Tacoma’s search for a new city manager. After the council selected Eric Anderson for city manager in 2005, Manthou spearheaded a new annual performance evaluation and employment contract, which required renewal every two years. It was a process meant to give the council more oversight of the manager.
In 2007, after spending the bulk of his first term on internal issues, Manthou easily won re-election by defeating last-minute challenger Harold Moss. Then, he switched gears.
“I became more project-driven,” Manthou said. “Tacoma needed to start doing things.”
DOWNTOWN BUSINESS
Chief on Manthou’s list was remodeling Cheney Stadium, the city’s aging minor league baseball park and home to the Triple-A Seattle Mariners affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers.
“It was probably the one project I took the lead on,” Manthou said.
Manthou joined Councilman Rick Talbert and then-public facilities director Mike Combs to tour several new ballparks and spring training facilities. The meetings and trips ultimately led to a $30 million remodeling proposal for the 50-year-old city ballpark.
The stadium remodel, completed in time for the Rainiers’ 2011 season-opener, likely was Manthou’s “most visible project,” Talbert said.
“But I think Spiro’s most defining contribution was his stability,” Talbert added. “He was the anti-politician. I never saw him playing politics, just trying to do what he thought was the right thing.”
Manthou’s support for various development projects – transforming a municipal parking garage into the Pacific Plaza mixed-use center among them – won him friends among downtown’s movers and shakers.
“I think he understood economic development as well or better than anybody on the council,” said Pacific Plaza co-owner Dan Putnam.
Manthou spoke out against council-backed moratoriums on big box stores and digital billboards, and opposed shoreline rezoning for Schuster Parkway as an impediment to industry.
“We try to tout ourselves as business-friendly,” Manthou said. “But we don’t act that way.”
Manthou’s critics say he became exactly what he campaigned against: A council member bent on downtown interests.
“We will not miss him for one millisecond,” said longtime West End Neighborhood Council member Ginny Eberhardt. “He hasn’t done anything for us.”
Manthou disputed claims he didn’t work hard for neighborhoods. While he was on the council, the city started its Community Based Services program to help clean up neighborhood blight and updated guidelines for neighborhood mixed-use centers, he said.
“I don’t think I changed my focus from neighborhoods to businesses,” Manthou said. “I just expanded my focus.”
Still, he said, “If I were to do it over again, I’d probably try to build better relationships with the neighborhood councils.”
IN THE MINORITY
In July, Manthou underwent emergency triple-bypass heart surgery. While hospitalized, he learned that a majority of the council had been talking quietly of their unhappiness with the city manager. In a split vote, the council opted not to extend Anderson’s contract. Manthou felt blindsided.
“The first I heard about it was in my hospital bed that Tuesday” (the day of the vote), Manthou said. “It upset me.”
Several weeks later, city budget officials noticed the first signs of a general fund discrepancy that would quickly grow to a projected $31 million shortfall.
Anderson’s risky assumptions and questionable revenue projections for the 2011-12 budget are now largely blamed for the current crisis. But Manthou continues to defend him.
“The council gave Eric his direction,” Manthou said. “We knew it was an uncertain economy that nobody could predict.”
On Dec. 20, with his successor – 25-year-old Anders Ibsen – looking on, Manthou once again found himself in the minority on a major council decision. He supported Lakewood City Manager Andrew Neiditz to become Tacoma’s next city manager. A majority instead backed San Antonio assistant city manager T.C. Broadnax for the job.
The next morning, Manthou said he was strongly considering a run for Pierce County assessor-treasurer. But any prospective job will be hard to live up to serving on the City Council, he added.
“Besides getting married and having my three kids,” Manthou said, “this gig has probably been the highlight of my life.”
Lewis Kamb: 253-597-8542
lewis.kamb@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/politics
Twitter: @lewiskamb
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