Guy Sanders has his hands in a lot of things in Eclectic.
He owns a few buildings downtown. He owns the coffee shop at the corner of Kowlagia Road and Main Street. He owns Alabama Professional Packing, a janitorial supply company selling to other companies and schools.
Now Sanders has qualified to be on the August municipal ballot as a candidate for mayor.
“Nobody loves Eclectic more than I do,” Sanders said. “I just want to see things continue to grow. We are growing and thriving a little bit, but I think we can do a little better.”
Sanders has been in town since elementary school and graduated from Elmore County High School. With water lines that have been in the ground for decades and the growth of subdivisions, Sanders said the Town of Eclectic must address water issues.
“They keep kicking the can down the road on the water problem,” Sanders said. “In order to supply more houses, you have to increase the water pressure. Every time they increase the pressure on the waterlines, it busts these old pipes that have been in the ground forever. They are all in the middle of the road.”
Sanders said a project such as replacing the water lines would create temporary problems.
“There will be complaints about digging up things,” Sanders said. “There will be complaints about temporary water outages and the pipes as replaced, but everyone has to understand that is the only way to fix the problem.”
Sanders said the town has done a good job getting grants adding to sewage treatment capacity. The issue lies in there is soon going to be a need to increase the sewage lagoon capacity and the wastewater spray field capacity.
“We keep growing,” Sanders said. “It will have to be addressed in the near future.”
Sanders said people are moving to the area because of the good schools and small town feel. He said the town must be proactive in protecting the downtown area.
“I don’t want to see Eclectic where all the business moves outside of town and nobody comes downtown,” Sanders said. “We need to create more walking and foot traffic downtown. We want to keep that downtown charm.”
Sanders said it will take both the town and property owners to keep the charm of a small downtown.
“You can’t let businesses leave downtown,” Sanders said. “You have all the buildings downtown, they could be empty like east Tallassee. There is nothing in east Tallassee any more.”
Sanders said he has experience through his personal businesses and owning buildings to help downtown Eclectic.
“It may be something as simple as I have done to a couple of buildings,” Sanders said. I made them look inviting and brought up to today’s standards.”
Sanders would like to see a few new businesses in Eclectic — some to generate competition and lower prices. He wouldn’t mind seeing something along the lines of a Chinese restaurant to give another option while not having to travel to another town.
Sanders said he feels called to campaign for Eclectic mayor.
“I’ve lived in Eclectic almost all my life, but until recently didn’t own a house in town,” Sanders said. “This wasn’t necessarily something I was looking for in my life at 63 years old. I just felt like it was something I needed to do.”
