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It has been a trying year for the village of Mancelona with the village's top employer, Dura Automotive declaring bankruptcy. That, coupled with major cutbacks at the state level, have caused the council to discuss slashes to the Bass Festival and the DDA to balance the village's budget, sending many community members into an uproar.

The new council will include newcomers Teresa Mizgala and Cecil Puckett for a four-year term. Puckett is a lifetime resident of Mancelona and Mizgala came to Mancelona from Mississippi in 1999.

"I want to see if I can get people interested in getting involved,"Mizgala said. "I can help keep people better informed and get them to the meetings."

Villagers also voted Elmer Grody as a write-in candidate for a four-year term. Grody has been off the council the last two years but served a few terms previously.

"I'd just like to see the communities get together. There seems to be a little confusion here lately, but I think that can be worked out,"Grody said.

Former council member and president, Yogi Jabara, was voted as a trustee to fill out the two years left in a village trustee position, vacant since the former council president resigned last July and trustee Robert Wilcox stepped into the job.

Wilcox secured the village presidency for the remaining two years last week as he was the only write-in candidate on the ballot.

Though he will be working with several new council members, Wilcox is optimistic. "I'm prepared to work with anybody,"he said.

Though the village is facing many budget issues, Wilcox emphasized the situation with Dura is the biggest priority. According to him, there were two bidders looking to buy it and they are going through the court system now. Without the company, the village not only loses its biggest employer, but the village budget misses out on around $45,000 in property taxes.

"I hope within the next month or two we will hear something that somebody will have purchased [Dura] and is planning to stay in Mancelona,"Wilcox said.

Another top issue mentioned by several council members is the annual Bass Festival and Wilcox said the council will definitely pursue putting it on again this year. He mentioned they are seeking service groups to help oversee the festival.

"We are looking for partnerships with other groups and we are hopefully going to start having meetings and appointing people to do certain jobs so we can move forward and have a Bass Festival,"Wilcox said.

The village president also mentioned the water and sewer system for the business district in Mancelona. According to Wilcox, officials are having pre-construction meetings this month and he believes they will break ground for a new plant in the next two to three weeks.

"The streets could be torn up - we need to watch over it and make sure our village interests are taken care of,"he said.

But, hanging above all the village issues and priorities is the still looming budget, and the village council will have to continue making decisions, especially as a verdict on the future of the DDA was tabled until November.

New council member Mazgala realizes what lies ahead. "Everything trickles down and when the state makes cuts, it affects everybody,"she said.