Spanish Fort’s newest City Council member officially took office this week, capping a decade of community volunteer work with his first step into elected public service.
William Anthony “Bill” Menas Sr. was sworn in as the council’s District 2 representative during a Monday meeting, with Baldwin County Probate Judge Tim Russell administering the oath. Menas’ wife, Crystal, held the Bible during the ceremony while the couple’s two sons, Will and Christopher, looked on.
Menas, 52, was selected by the council earlier in December to fill the seat vacated by former Councilman Dennis Dismuke, who resigned after accepting a job outside the state. A Realtor with Bellator Real Estate & Development, Menas said the timing of his appointment lines up with a pivotal moment for the fast-growing city.
“With everything coming to Spanish Fort right now this is a key time to get involved, try to get our arms around this growth, and just have some smart growth going forward,” Menas said following the ceremony.
Menas said his ties to the community first deepened when his older son, Will, was in eighth grade and the city’s new high school had just opened. He began volunteering to help the school’s fledgling band program, using his own enclosed trailer to haul equipment to competitions and events. From there, he said, his involvement expanded into whatever the school needed.
Crystal Menas has taught chemistry and marine biology at Spanish Fort High School for about five years, after spending twelve years teaching at Daphne High School. The couple’s younger son, Christopher, was preparing to follow his older brother to the University of Alabama to study chemical engineering.
Menas, who was born in Pensacola and moved to Robertsdale as a child before eventually settling in Spanish Fort, described his path to the council seat as rooted in a strong work ethic built over decades.
“I come from a very humble beginning,” he said. “I’ve been working my entire life since I was 15 — out in the fields, working on trucks, pumping gas, running forklifts. … I’ve never been afraid of work.”
After 21 years with Selig Chemical Industries, Menas retired from the company in 2000 and went into business for himself, eventually building the company he leads today while also taking on a leadership role within Bellator’s commercial real estate division.