MANASSAS —Manassas Vice Mayor Ken Elston will step down at the end of the month.
Elston accepted the positions of Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences and Director of Performing Arts at High Point University in High Point, North Carolina.
First elected to the city council in 2014, Elston is was serving in the first year of his second term that ends in 2022 when he announced his resignation. In last year’s General Election, Elston was the second-highest vote winner behind fellow Davis-Younger.
“I’m shocked and so happy for him. We were on the same slate and he was instrumental in helping me to understand the ins and outs of running and the position. He was an honest man who would give to you straight, which is rare for a politician. He will be missed,” said Council Member Michelle Davis-Younger.
Elston was one of the first in a recent string of Democrats to be elected to what is today a city council made up of a majority of Democrats. For that reason, whoever replaces Elston on a permanent basis will most likely also be a Democrat.
“I’ve been encouraging people to apply but I have mostly stayed out of the process,” said Councilman Ian Lovejoy, a Republican who is now focused on his campaign for a Virginia House of Delegates seat for District 50, in Manassas and Bristow.
A Special Election will be held during the General Election on November 5 to elect someone to complete the remainder of Elston’s term. In the meantime, the city council is seeking applicants to fill the vacant Vice Mayor position. Interested residents can sign-up through a process that can be found online.
Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. on July 12.
City Council will hold a public meeting on July 25 to discuss interested candidates that have completed the required information and to allow candidates to present their qualifications.
The Council may elect to have a second public meeting on July 26 to review the remaining interested candidates, if necessary.
A decision on the appointment is expected to be completed by Aug. 12.
Elston has had council appointments on the city’s finance committee, the Fire and Rescue Committee, and was the liaison to the Northern Virginia Regional Commission.
Outside of the City Council, Elston is Director of the School of Theater at George Mason University where he teaches courses in Acting and Directing. Ken has acted and been the Director and Fight Director for hundreds of stage, film and video projects. His stage credits include several off-Broadway, regional companies, and universities.
He was the Resident Theater Artist at both Catholic University and Maryland Institute College of Art. Internationally, Ken has had professional residencies in China, at the Beijing Film Academy, Nanjing University, and the Shanghai Theater Academy. He has been a guest artist for communicating science at the Lisbon Biological Sciences Institute. Ken is a member of Actor’s Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and the Association of Theatre Movement Educators.
Ken and his wife, Molly, have announced the Greater Manassas Christmas Parade and served on that committee for many years. City residents since 2002, they have two children who both attended Manassas City Public Schools. He has served on the School Board for Grace Children’s Learning Center, as well as Boards for New York’s Oberon Theater Ensemble, Theater of the First Amendment, Footsteps in Time, and the Hylton Performing Arts Center, as well as the preservation groups for Aldie Church and the Laura Ratcliffe house, Meadowbrook. He has written several dramatic plays on the Civil War, including the National Jubilee of Peace in 2011 for the City of Manassas and Prince William County, featured by the National Park Service for the war’s sesquicentennial.
