KRISTIE MOSS / Scroll
After Christopher Mann was elected to the Rexburg City Council, signs from his campaign found their way to his front yard.

BYU-I employee elected to Rexburg City Council

Jason Wells WEL04023@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

Last week’s elections have placed a face on the Rexburg City Council familiar to the students and staff of BYU-Idaho.

Christopher Mann, BYU-I’s Food Court Operations manager, received the most votes in the City Council race Nov. 8, winning a seat. “I was elated — shocked that I was the number one [candidate] voted for!” Mann said.

Having worked in BYU-I food service for the past 23 years, Mann is the first campus employee to be elected to city council in years while still working for BYU-I.

Irma Anderson, a former member of the BYU-I staff, recently served an appointed position on city council but hadn’t worked on campus for several years.

Mann enjoys all aspects of his current job and will continue to work his on-campus job while filling his city councilmen’s duties part-time.

He has also been involved previously in the Rexburg city government with the Chamber of Commerce as the Idaho International Folk Dance Festival chairman in 2005.

Mann said it is his admiration for this town and the quality of life here that led him to run for city council.

Mann described his experience as “surreal.” He said he had the opportunity to meet a lot of people in the community and talk with them about their views. He felt like he was part of something big and patriotic. “What I was participating in was going on in 10,000 other communities across this great country,” Mann said.

Volunteers from the community, including BYU-I and high school students, participated in Mann’s campaign.

“He’s a really good guy. I like the good values he holds and what he wants to do for this community,” said Joshua Jackson, a freshman from Rexburg, and one of the students who helped with Mann’s campaign.

One of Mann’s goals is a good, healthy relationship between the community and its largest player, BYU-I. “I believe strongly that our residents include students,” Mann said. He hopes to build respect, civility and consensus building.