DECATUR - Voters casting ballots for Macon County recorder of deeds will be faced with a choice between a longtime incumbent whose family has controlled the office for nearly four decades and a local real estate agent who seeks to make the office more business-friendly and more savvy about real estate and technological trends.

Democrat Mary Tangney Eaton is asking voters to cast their ballots for her for the third time on Nov. 4. Eaton has been recorder since 1999 when she was appointed after the retirement of her father, Edwin J. Tangney, Jr., who had held the office for 27 years.

Eaton had been working in the office for 20 years prior to her appointment and was returned to the office by voters in 2000 and 2004.

"I feel like with my experience within the office I'm highly qualified for the position," Eaton said.

But Republican Damon Cross, a Decatur real estate agent challenging Eaton, argued that what the community needs in its recorder is not experience, but change in the direction of the office so that it is more responsive to the needs of commercial and industrial real estate development.

"(Real estate) is basically the engine that drives our economy and it begins right in the recorder's office," Cross said.

He noted that one of the first stops of any potential wind farm developer or a local corporation looking to expand its operations would be to the recorder's office to search property records.

Eaton said her office has been attentive to the needs of businesses by maintaining the tracking index of properties even when the county considered cutting funding for the index during tough budget times. She also said she offers hands-on leadership in the office where she is not afraid to engage the customers herself.

"I don't mind stepping out to the front counter," Eaton said.

The recorder's office is charged with keeping records for all real estate transactions in Macon County along with records of state and federal tax liens and some military records. The office collects the fee needed to maintain the county's geographic information system.

Eaton also noted the office is sometimes a resource for Macon County historians and genealogists.

"A lot of people don't know that records we have in here go back into the early 1800s," she said.

Eaton said her office is striving to maintain its role as a strong revenue generator for the county at the same time uncertainty about the economy and real estate has more people unable or unwilling to buy new homes.

Cross said he would like to see the county maintain its current service to the community at the same time he as recorder would strive to see the office adapt to changes in the current real estate climate and bring Macon County into uniformity with other successful recorder's offices statewide.

"I think that the biggest thing that can be achieved in the recorder's office is a greater presence on the state level," Cross said.

As he did in his unsuccessful campaign to join the Decatur City Council last year, Cross said it's important that elected officials work harder to change the image that outsiders have of Macon County so that it is "on the cutting edge of trends and technology" and pledged he would work to change that perception if elected.

MARYTANGNEYEATON

JOB: Macon County Recorder, appointed in 1999, elected in 2000 and 2004

AGE: 47

EDUCATION: Graduated from Niantic-Harristown High School

FAMILY: Married 28 years to Mike; son, Mason, 13

CAREER: Worked in recorder's office for 20 years

COMMUNITY: Township official, American Legion Auxiliary

DAMONCROSS

JOB: Adoption specialist at Webster-Cantrell Hall and a real estate agent for RE/MAX

AGE: 41

EDUCATION: Bachelor of science in political science and criminal justice from MacMurray College, Jacksonville; graduated from Westville High School in Vermilion County

FAMILY: Married 16 years to Angelia; son, Damon Jr., 16; two daughters, Damisha, 11, and Dania, 8

CAREER: Worked for various social services agencies, most notably in supervisory roles at Hope School in Springfield

COMMUNITY: Member of Imitation of Life Theater Group; chairman of the board of the Decatur Black Chamber of Commerce; and a board member of the Decatur chapter of the NAACP

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