The three College Park City Councilmembers who have announced they will not run for re-election in November agree that their job as part-time politicians infringes on family and personal time.
Councilmembers Llatetra Brown Esters and Susan Whitney (District 2) and John Rigg (District 3) decided this summer to pause their political careers in favor of spending more time with friends and family.
Rigg said the every-other-year autumn campaign season has hampered his ability to attend his son’s soccer games. Brown recently accepted a promotion with more responsibility. Whitney said she would like to be home at dinnertime more often.
“My falls are so busy,” Rigg, a four-term councilmember, said. “Most of the things in my life that I care the most about happen in August, September, October and November, including family birthdays, a church retreat. … Given that it’s fall [and] I’ve got a kid starting college soccer next week, [leaving the council] feels comfortable.”
Councilmembers typically work full-time jobs in addition to attending Tuesday evening meetings three times a month that often run past 10 p.m. Some devote 20 or more hours a week to council work, which can lead to burnout.
“There are things that can happen in a given day that need my immediate attention … and focus” at her job as associate vice president for student success and dean of students at the University of Baltimore, Esters said. “Just as important as that is, my time and attention to what I do with the city is just as important.”
She noted that after five years on the council, that is no longer “the way I want to carve out time in my life right now.”
Esters said she would not characterize the job of councilmember “in and of itself a burnout job,” but admitted it can be “taxing” to “be on” all the time.
Councilmember Ray Ranker (District 3), who joined the council in March by way of a special election, noted that part-time politics, “like anything, it can be” a burnout job, “but it doesn’t have to be.”
As a newcomer, Ranker, a chaplain at the University of Maryland, said the key is to be “realistic about how much time and energy you have, and then … figuring out what it is you’re going to say ‘yes’ to and what it is that you’re going to have to say ‘no’ to. … You need to be strategic about what you’re going to put your energy and time into to have the most positive impact.”
Mayor Fazlul Kabir, who served as a District 1 councilmember for 12 years before becoming mayor in 2023, agreed.
“There’s no maximum, but there’s a minimum,” Kabir, who plans to run for mayor again this year, said, pointing to weekly council meetings. He also attends multiple community and civic association meetings and events as well as conferences, trainings and consultations with city staff each month. And like Esters and Whitney, he writes a regular blog about council business.
“But what I have seen,” he said, “some [councilmembers] spend even more time than I do. They go far in giving their time and talents to the communities. Some of them are pretty creative, even though they are not required to do that. It’s because of the passion they have.”
That, perhaps, is not sustainable, Kabir noted.
“We never push them to do it, but we cannot stop them,” he said. “Once they start doing it, they can’t stop it, and at some point, they feel this is too much. They have families. Family comes first and they also have jobs. Those are things they cannot ignore.”
Still, while Rigg said he is “done with being an elected official for now,” he intends to “actively look for other ways to serve the city or the broader community.”
Whitney, who was elected in 2021, said she would advise potential candidates to involve their families in the decision to make the commitment to the council job.
“It involves the whole family,” she said. “You’re going to events, reading your [agenda] packet, making phone calls. It is a lot of time and, depending on your disposition, it can also be mental stress. … It can be the most basic level of not being [home], not being there to cook dinner. … It’s definitely a sacrifice the entire family makes.”
Ranker agreed.
“Frankly, if my kids and my wife didn’t want me to do it and thought that it was taking up too much time, I would not be doing it,” he said.
Still, Whitney said, “I would not trade this experience for the world. I’m so glad I did it. I’ve learned a lot and I’ve met so many wonderful people. I do feel like I’ve been able to contribute in meaningful ways.”