Familiar faces prevail in Sykesville election

By Bob Blubaugh

A sometimes contentious campaign that dominated online communities and social media platforms in the southern end of Carroll County and produced an interesting and well-attended forum on April 24, resulted in familiar faces winning Sykesville’s mayoral and Town Council elections contested on Tuesday, May 6. Mayor Stacy Link easily won a second term, collecting 846 votes compared to 323 votes for challenger Robert Whittaker, according to the town's Facebook page. Five candidates were vying for three seats on the Town Council. Incumbents Leo Keenan (831 votes) and Elizabeth Guroff (823) easily secured reelection and Alex Ries, co-chair of the Sykesville Parks and Recreation Council, picked up 782 votes to take a council seat for the first time. Gregory Hilliard (319 votes) and Mark Carbone (312) came up short. The key issue in the campaign seemed to be the legal battle between the town and Warfield Historic Properties, including a lawsuit in which the Warfield group is suing Sykesville for $20 million.

All of Tuesday’s winners will begin four-year terms next week. According to Town Clerk Kerry Kavaloski, 1,181 Sykesville residents turned in ballots out of 3,314 registered voters for a robust turnout percentage of 36 percent.

Mount Airy

Mount Airy also held its election on Tuesday, also with the mayoral and Town Council seats at stake. Although neither race was officially contested, a late write-in candidate made things a little interesting on Election Day. For mayor, incumbent Larry Hushour was easily reelected with 464 votes while various write-in candidates received 19 votes, according to a news conference streamed by the town. Two Town Council seats were on the line. Sean Kelly received 385 votes to earn his first term as a council member and incumbent Stephen Domotor won reelection with 262 votes. Heather Wallace, who staged a last-minute write-in campaign, finished third with 182 votes. Another write-in candidate, Stephen “Pops” Kraft, earned 21 votes while 25 other write-in votes were also registered. There were 500 ballots cast for a voter turnout of 6.6 percent.

Taneytown

The city of Taneytown has three new council members after the Monday, May 5 election.Taneytown held Carroll’s first municipal election of 2025. Four new candidates – Lillian Hardie, Nick Kalinock, Harry Meade and Rachael Miller – were vying for three seats as none of the incumbents opted to run again. Kalinock earned the most votes with 279, Meade was next with 270 and Miller edged Hardie for the final council seat, 191 to 177.According to the city’s Facebook page, out of 5,558 registered active voters in Taneytown, 336 (7 percent) went to the polls and voted on Monday.

Coming Up

Four other Carroll municipalities were scheduled to hold elections next week, although Union Bridge's election was called off because, according to Resolution 01-2024, "if the number of candidates for the office is equal to or less than the number of vacancies for such office, then no election shall be held for such office."Three seats for the Union Bridge Town Council were open and they will be filled by incumbent Laura Conaway and newcomers Anthony Bowman and Logan Grossnickle.

Hampstead will hold its election on Tuesday, May 13, but only three candidates -- Diane Barrett, Wayne H. Thomas and Benjamin Zolman -- are running for the three Town Council seats.

New Windsor and Westminster also are holding elections on May 13 and both have contested mayoral races.

In Westminster, Mona Becker is seeking reelection against Nicholas Thomas. Incumbent members of the Westminster Common Council Tony Chiavacci and Dan Hoff are running unopposed.

In New Windsor, longtime Mayor Neal Roop is retiring and his spot will be filled by either Ashley Collier or Kevin Cornick. Collier, Cornick and Dante Howard, the lone New Windsor resident to file for Town Council candidacy and already a winner of one of the two open seats, participated in a Candidate Forum hosted by the CMC on April 30 at New Windsor's Town Hall.

Finally, Manchester will hold its election on Tuesday, May 20. Chris Cuneo, Steve Miller and Vince Pacelli are unopposed running for three seats on the Town Council.Check out more coverage by visiting a special election section of the Community Media Center's website.

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