By Liz Holland

While most of the attention in this year’s Salisbury elections has centered on the mayor’s race, the city’s five council seats are also being contested.

At least one newcomer will join the council next month. Also, for the first time in a few election cycles, only one seat is uncontested.

District 1 

Salisbury City Council President April Jackson, daughter of the late community leader Billy Gene Jackson who was first elected to the City Council in 2015, is being challenged by Lavonzella “Von” Siggers, a former City Council president who last held elective office in 2009.

Siggers did not respond to multiple interview requests for this story.

District 1 is Salisbury’s minority district and encompasses the city’s West Side as well as neighborhoods in the north end of town.

Unlike her fellow council members, Jackson has been vocal in recent meetings about ongoing construction in the city’s Downtown as well as the planned development of apartments and commercial spaces on what was once a city-owned parking lot.

The work has created parking problems, which Jackson fears could hurt businesses and also create problems for elderly and disabled residents who may have to park farther away. She also thinks the city could have sold the Downtown lots for a much higher price.

“It was kind of like they gave it away,” she said.

Jackson has long been a proponent of economic development and job growth in District 1, and she is particularly supportive of plans to renovate the former Campbell Soup Co. factory.

Developer Bret Davis is in the midst of major stabilization work that will include demolition of some deteriorated sections and roof repairs in others. Davis has said he plans to tear down about 60,000 square feet of the building that have become dangerous.

Last year, Davis recently rented 40,000 square feet to Chesapeake Shipbuilding as warehouse space and has other tenants in the building.

“I’m looking forward to seeing that get developed,” Jackson said.

District 2 

Newly appointed City Councilman D’Shawn Doughty of Creekbed Circle will face challenger Wayne King of Priscilla Street who made an unsuccessful run against then-mayor Jake Day in the 2019 city election.

The district includes areas in northeastern Salisbury.

Doughty was appointed on Oct. 2 to fill the District 2 council seat left vacant after former Council President Muir Boda resigned to become the city’s new Director of Housing and Community Development.

A native of the Eastern Shore, Doughty was born and raised in Salisbury’s District 2. After studying business administration at Salisbury University, he started his career in finance at Bank of America as a loan before moving to his current job as development manager at Green Street Housing which is building affordable housing in Salisbury.

Doughty is a proponent of the city’s efforts to redevelop several Downtown parking lots with apartments and commercial spaces. More apartments are needed in Salisbury, but there is a particular need for affordable housing, he said in a recent interview on PAC14.

He also wants to see an emphasis on the city’s youth by offering more programs at community centers and parks. Doughty also said he is “really excited” about TidalHealth’s plans to build a community clinic at the Hotel Esther property in the East Church Street neighborhood. “It will be instrumental in moving the community forward,” he said.

Doughty serves on several boards and commissions, including as a Kindness Commissioner for the City of Salisbury, the Executive Board of Directors for Junior Achievement of the Eastern Shore, 81st President of the Salisbury Junior Chamber of Commerce, and Vice-Chair of the Wicomico County Democratic Central Committee.

His opponent in the election, Wayne King, first filed to run for mayor, but withdrew from the race and became a candidate for the District 2 council seat instead.

King’s campaign focus is on what he sees as Salisbury’s biggest problems: Downtown development, crime and property taxes. What he would like to see instead are clean, safe neighborhoods, low taxes and new jobs.

The current City Council members “rubberstamp everything” and are “all on one side,” with the occasional exception of Council President April Jackson, King said in a recent interview on PAC 14.

“We need people to ask questions,” he said.

King is critical of this year’s increase in the property tax and water and sewer rates that city officials said were necessary to cover rising costs, and he blames former mayor Jake Day for leaving the city with a “money pit.”

During the 2019 election, King said Day was moving forward too fast and spending too much money, running up debt especially on the Downtown Main Street project, and ignoring problems such as crime and homelessness.

King grew up in Huntington, on New York’s Long Island. He attended West Virginia University as a business administration major. He took over his father’s business and later expanded into different fields, selling horticultural products wholesale and retail. After selling the business, he then did outside sales contracting for Home Depot and Lowes.

He moved to Salisbury eight years ago and lives on Priscilla Street.

District 3 

With the current District 3 council member, Megan Outten, now running for mayor, the City Council will see at least once newcomer following the election.

Sharon Cannon Dashiell of Russell Avenue will face Joan Michalowicz of River Oak Court. 

Michalowicz, however, has stated she is not actively campaigning for the seat.

John Foley is running as a write-in candidate.

The district is in the south end of the city. 

District 4 

City Councilwoman Michele Gregory, who is completing her first term representing District 4, will face challenger Harvey Evans III in the city election.

The district includes Newtown, Downtown and south on Route 13 near the Wawa store.

“It’s a good cross section of the community,” said Gregory in a recent interview on PAC 14.

A resident of Parkway Avenue, Gregory said the areas of concern she hears most from her constituents are the health and wellbeing of families and the community, public safety and the economy.

She is a proponent of efforts to build new housing in Salisbury by offering incentives to developers through the city’s Here Is Home and Horizon programs.

“When there is no supply for 10 years, we need to incentivize developers,” she said.

While there has been some opposition to redevelopment efforts Downtown, and complaints that the same effort isn’t being made in neighborhoods, Gregory said the city can do both successfully.

“We need a thriving Downtown to support those neighborhoods and we need those neighborhoods to make the Downtown thrive,” she said. “It’s a symbiotic relationship, not adversarial like it has been portrayed.”

Gregory is an early childhood educator and former small business owner who has lived in Salisbury for more than 20 years.

District 5

Incumbent Angela Blake of Sandstone Court has no challenger.

District 5 is in the central and southeast part of town.

The General Election is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 7. Polling locations will be open that day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.