Bowie City Council member Michael Estève will be sworn in as the city’s new mayor next week, after taking 50% of the vote in Tuesday’s special election.
Estève beat out eight other candidates, including two of his colleagues on the city council. He began the day by diving into city budget planning, since that process begins the day he’s sworn in.
“My promise to folks was that I would be a mayor who would show up, who would do the job in front of him, who would listen, who would make sure folks understood what the city was doing and why we were doing it and who wouldn’t shy away from hard choices,” Estève said.
He said hard choices are what will be greeting him and the rest of the city council as the budget process gets underway.
“We’re not promising people the world, and I’m not even promising that I’m going to be able to fix all the problems,” he said. “I don’t paint a rosy picture. I tell people what I think is true, what I’ve been telling folks for a while is that all the easy choices, they’re in the rear view mirror.”
Estève replaces Tim Adams, who was recently appointed to the Prince George’s County Council. The campaign for mayor lasted just over a month, and the term only runs through next year.
Estève said during the campaign sprint leading up to the special election that the common concerns and desires he heard from residents dealt with public safety, overdevelopment, business quality, litter and aging infrastructure.
As an incorporated city in Prince George’s County, Bowie offers twice weekly trash pickup and weekly recycling and yard waste collection. It’s also responsible for its own roads and sidewalks. Maintaining that, while also expanding the police force, is a tricky challenge.
“A town our size could easily have 122 law enforcement officers. We’re operating with about 66,” he said. “A trash truck that cost $120,000 just a few years ago costs almost $280,000 today. Retention for public works workers, trash workers, recycling pickup guys is much, much, much harder. Those guys used to stick around for years, and now they stick around for months. I think residents are starting to see and notice that.”
Day-to-day operations of the city are overseen by a city manager, a job that’s also vacant at the moment. Estève’s job as mayor will be to lead the city council to guide the budget and work with those who run the city’s various departments. He said Bowie can continue to provide the services residents have come to expect, but warns some things might come with a cost.
He said he believes his honesty about the situation will be appreciated by residents, some of whom stood in line for more than an hour to vote even after the polls closed Tuesday night.
“I think people are tired of generations of politicians who tell them what they want to hear and make promises they know they cannot keep,” he said. “I’m a big believer in telling people the truth.”
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