SALISBURY — At 27, Ryan Evans is the youngest candidate for a seat on the Salisbury City Council.

But Evans said that with three years of political science education under his belt, he knows how a local government should run.

“Everything will be fresh in my mind straight from the book,” Evans said. “By next semester, I’ll just be getting ready to finish up, ready to step into my adult life.”

A rising senior at Livingstone College, Evans said he became interested in running for City Council after one of his political science professors, Margaret Simms-Maddox, encouraged him to look into it.

“There’s not many people in my major, so my professors, they sit down with you, they talk with you,” Evans said.

Before starting at Livingstone College in 2013, Evans was in the Army, serving from 2008 until 2013.

Evans said that although he was away during his time in the military, he has always lived in Salisbury. Since coming back after the service, he’s noticed that the city has changed.

“The crime rate, with the murders, it’s happening, but I don’t see much being done about it for working-class citizens,” Evans said. “So I want to learn and see what I can do and how my efforts can be used.”

In addition to the crime rate, Evans said he is concerned about the number of empty storefronts downtown.

He said that should he be elected, he would reach out to businesses and try to help them find the best location for their needs.

Evans is scheduled to graduate from Livingstone next May. After that, he said he will look into getting his master’s of business administration degree at a school within 30 to 45 minutes of Salisbury.

Contact reporter Jessica Coates at 704-797-4222.