Bowie City Council Fills Vacancy

BOWIE, MD — The Bowie City Council on Wednesday selected Darian Senn-Carter to fill the vacancy in the District 3 Council seat. The vacancy was created when former council member Courtney Glass resigned in December 2018. Dr. Senn-Carter will take the oath of office at the council’s next regular meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 19. He will serve until the next city election in November 2019, when he will be eligible to run for a full four-year term on the council, according to a city news release.

Candidates for the seat were interviewed by council members in closed sessions on Feb. 2, 5 and 6. Each applicant was allotted 15 minutes to answer a series of questions posed by council members. There were initially 27 individuals interested in the vacant seat, but three of the applicants dropped out before the interviews.

Due to the large number of applicants and the fact that the interviews were conducted on three separate days, the council decided to close the interviews to the press and public to allow all candidates an equal opportunity to hear and answer the questions, without the benefit of knowing the responses of those who came before them. The authority to close a meeting for personnel matters and appointments is permitted under the Maryland Open Meetings Act, the city says.

The interviews can be viewed on the City website at www.cityofbowie.org/viewmeetings. They will also be broadcast on the government channel (Verizon 10/Comcast 71) on the next two Fridays, Sundays, and Tuesdays at 7 p.m. (February 8, 10, 12, 15, 17 and 19).

Before announcing the selection, Mayor G. Frederick Robinson thanked all of the candidates for their interest in serving and stated that the “pool of applicants was incredible and that the strength and depth of their talents reflected well on the City.” He also thanked the sitting council members for their dedication and thoughtful deliberation throughout the selection process.

Dr. Senn-Carter is currently a member of the Anne Arundel Community College faculty, where he teaches in the Homeland Security and Criminal Justice Institute. He was previously employed by Baltimore City as an emergency planner. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, and earned a Master of Science from Towson University and a Doctorate in Education from Edgewood College in Wisconsin. Darian Senn-Carter resides in the Enfield Chase neighborhood of Bowie.

Image via city of Bowie