Three candidates vie for two open City Council seats in this week's Lewes municipal election.
Tim Ritzert, Joe Elder, and Kevin Keane all have experience as city leaders. Ritzert and Elder are incumbent city council members, and Keane is vice chair of the Lewes Planning Commission.
Residents can cast votes for up to two candidates. When votes are tallied, the two with the highest number of votes win the seats.
Each candidate has distinct visions for Lewes for voters to consider.
Ritzert says he supports creating an entrepreneurial zone in the business-saturated Second Street area to ease rent strain on existing and future business owners, which he says may be necessary to draw support for the incoming parking garage there.
That parking garage project was spurred by a citizen-led working group chaired by Elder, whose campaign focuses on fiscal responsibility and more downtown parking.
Elder notes his work on the finance committee delivered a “zero-growth” budget to address continued overspending.
Keane’s focus is attracting more people to serve in local government, something he calls the “Lewes way”, as well as prioritizing “full-time” Lewes residents.
Lewes' municipal election is Saturday May 9 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
