College Park City Council candidates discussed public safety and business developments at the District 3 candidate forum Wednesday night.
The District 3 council seat has been vacant since Jan. 8 when former council member Stuart Adams resigned. Voters are set to elect a new council member in a special election on March 11.
The three candidates are Michael Meadow, a mechanical engineer at the Architect of the Capitol; Ray Ranker, a chaplain at the University of Maryland and Gannon Sprinkle, a junior government and politics major at this university.
At Wednesday night’s candidate forum, Meadow pushed for increased attention on public safety and the use of code enforcement in the city.
Meadow said he doesn’t believe College Park needs its own police force but that it would be best if the contract force were better staffed. The current contract police program consists of off-duty Prince George’s County police officers working part time as city employees to supplement the county’s regular police services, according to the city’s website.
As a council member, Meadow added, he would urge the county’s police force to send patrols to areas in the city with large student populations so the contract police force could be free to patrol other communities in the city.
[Meet the candidates for the District 3 College Park City Council seat]
Sprinkle also said it would be beneficial for the city to receive help from county officers and university police in problem areas instead of creating its own force.
Sprinkle pointed to his work with the student advisory committee of this university’s police department to prove he can make this happen.
“I have some experience in directing and lobbying our police departments in our area to make sure that we are accurately policing our communities,” Sprinkle said.
Sprinkle was the city council’s deputy student liaison during the 2023-24 academic year and served as the executive vice president of this university’s Student Government Association from last spring until earlier this year.
Ranker is against creating a College Park police force because he believes it’s an unnecessary way to spend the city’s money and creates a potential liability for lawsuits, which would cost the city even more.
Instead, he’s advocating for the installation of street cameras and creation of community watches in neighborhoods.
“Public safety is a holistic issue,” Ranker said. “It’s not just about policing.”
The candidates also spoke about problems with extreme noise throughout the city.
[Here’s how to register to vote for the College Park District 3 special election]
Sprinkle said he will help ecologically combat the noise by working with the state’s natural resources department to plant noise barriers using native species, such as certain trees, in addition to making sure city and county noise ordinances are being properly enforced.
Ranker and Meadow were also in favor of building a natural sound barrier.
Additionally, the candidates agreed to advocate for business retention and attraction programs if elected to the council.
Meadow said he would promote these programs by making vacant spaces more attractive to business owners and decreasing rent prices. Sprinkle added that increasing advertisement and outreach about the programs throughout the city would be beneficial.
Ranker hopes to work closely with this university to encourage students to begin building small businesses through private investments that do not take from the city’s budget.
“I’m committed to making sure that [city developments] benefit city residents,” Ranker said.
When talking about flooding in Calvert Hills, Meadow said he believes residents must continue to pressure county officials to resolve the issue.
The county’s environmental department has funded a project to reduce stormwater and decrease flooding throughout the Calvert Hills neighborhood, according to the College Park website. The project has yet to be implemented and is still being designed, city documents state.
Improving stormwater management would be a key part of his focus on sustainable planning if he is elected, Meadow added. Having a separate plan to determine how stormwater issues arise in addition to how to combat them is something Meadow said he is advocating for.
Stephanie Stullich, who served as a District 3 council member from 2007 to 2017, believes all the candidates seem invested in the community and any of them would be fit for the council seat.
“Our city council is very important,” Stullich told The Diamondback. “It has a big impact on our lives and who the representatives are.”
Freshman government and politics and history major Simon Wong attended the forum because of his involvement with the campus ministry and connection to Ranker, as well as his knowledge of Sprinkle as a fellow student.
Although Wong isn’t voting because he isn’t registered to vote in College Park, Wong understands how valuable city elections are.
“All three of the candidates spoke super well,” Wong said. “It gives me a lot of confidence for whichever one of them is elected to the council.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated that Ray Ranker opposes expanding the contract police force. He opposes creating a College Park police force. This story has been updated.
