Sykesville Mayor Stacy Link is running for reelection in May and will have one opponent, Robert Whittaker, 53, a barber shop owner in Ellicott City and Sykesville.
Current Sykesville Town Council members Elizabeth Guroff and Leo Keenan are also running for reelection to their seats. Others on the town’s certified list of candidates for town council are Mark Carbone, Gregory Hilliard and Alexandra Ries.
The candidate filing deadline and voter registration deadline were both March 24.
Link, 50, served on Town Council for two terms, starting in 2013, before being elected as Sykesville’s first female mayor in 2021. Link and Mayor Mona Becker of Westminster were elected on the same night in May 2021 as Carroll County’s first openly gay mayors.
While a member of the Sykesville’s Town Council, Link was a founder of the The Downtown Sykesville Connection, a state-accredited program that aims to bolster the town’s economic potential on Main Street. She remains a member of the program’s design committee.
Link defeated incumbent Mayor Ian Shaw by more than 100 votes in 2021, finishing with 519 votes to Shaw’s 408.
She did not respond to requests for comment.
On Friday, Whittaker said in a phone interview he had considered running in previous elections but felt this year was the right time. Whitaker said he has lived in the town for 20 years. If elected, he said his top priorities would be strengthening the town’s control over spending, enhancing public safety and supporting small businesses.
“We’re spending money in some areas that I think we really don’t need to,” Whittaker said. “Everybody knows the town’s in a lawsuit with the Warfield project. They’re spending lots of money on lawyer fees for that because they can’t come to any kind of negotiations.”
In a statement Thursday, council member Guroff highlighted her recent efforts to enhance the town’s infrastructure and public safety, including strengthening the Sykesville Police Department. She also cited her experience serving as a council liaison to the town’s Parks and Recreation Commission.
“Sykesville is an amazing place, as demonstrated by its highly ranked public schools, strong families, beautifully maintained parks, and a thriving Main Street with unique shops and restaurants,” Guroff said. “If reelected, I will continue to work very hard to maintain that small town feel that probably brought so many of our residents here in the first place.”
Other Town Council candidates did not return requests for comment.
The Sykesville general election is scheduled for 8 a.m.-8 p.m. on May 6, at the Town House, 7547 Main St. Mail-in voting is also an option, and more information is available on the town’s website.
Those elected will be sworn in on May 19 at 5:30 p.m.
Have a news tip? Contact Brennan Stewart at bstewart@baltsun.com, 443-800-5902, or @BrennanStewart_ on X.