The following is from a press release on October 19th:
Democrat, Janssen E. Evelyn (EVE - lin) (he/him/his), announced his candidacy for the Howard County Council District 4 before an enthusiastic crowd of family, friends, and supporters at Color Burst Park in the Merriweather District of downtown Columbia.
Evelyn traced his journey to today from his parents immigrating to the United States from Barbados when he was a young child and having to live in one room with his mother, father, and siblings. He is a graduate of St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Washington and Lee School of Law. He is currently an attorney at Baker Donelson in downtown Baltimore after 9.5 years working in local government - the last six were with Howard County, where he worked as an Assistant County Solicitor and then, as an Assistant Chief Administrative Officer - a role that Janssen was appointed to by Allan Kittleman and continued in the Ball administration. During that time, he was involved in all aspects of the County government operations - he advised on personnel issues and labor relations and contract negotiations, handled special investigations, and worked on the County’s handling of the COVID-19 response. In that role, he also assisted in managing day-to-day operations and oversaw multiple administration priorities for several County agencies in procurement, central fleet, human resources, and human rights and equity (where he served as that agency’s Acting Administrator in 2019).
Currently, Evelyn serves the community in a variety of roles - as the Vice-Chair on the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights and as a member of the Howard County Conservancy’s board of directors. He is in his second term on the Hickory Village Board and is also a Member-at-Large of the Howard County Branch of the NAACP (where he chairs their Environmental and Climate Justice subcommittee). Earlier this year, Mr. Evelyn was recognized as a “Leadership in Law” honoree by The Maryland Daily Record.
Evelyn stated “I am running as a proud Democrat for the County Council to represent ALL the residents of District 4 - so that informed, practical, forward thinking, experienced - and equitable solutions can be found.”
Evelynn went on to say he wants to capture the vision of Columbia’s founder Jim Rouse’s goal when developing Columbia “to create an environment that contributes to the growth of people and fostering community. People of all races, religious, socio-economic backgrounds, living in community and working together, reaching out – and growing together.” Evelyn feels these goal apply to the entire District 4 that includes five Columbia villages, Wilde Lake, Harper’s Choice, Hickory Ridge, Town Center and River Hill, as well as parts of Clarksville, Highland, Fulton, and North Laurel and Maple Lawn. Evelyn does not feel this vast district is currently being represented and he plans on knocking on the doors of as many residents of District 4 between now and the Primary on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, to meet face to face with the voters to share his vision and listen to their concerns.
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Janssen has not filed to run in District 4 as pf this post on October 20th.
Janssen will face off in the Primary with sitting District 4 Councilmember Deb Jung.
Be sure to follow all candidates running for office in Howard County here: https://scotteblog.com/2022-primary-election-candidates-howard-county/
Scott E
