Three Norman residents, including two OU alumni, are competing for the Ward 4 City Council seat, which encompasses some of the OU campus and student homes.

Zac Abbott, Gregory Jungman and Rhett Michael Jones will be on the ballot for the April 3 election. Other wards up for election in April are Wards 2, 4, 6 and 8, with a potential runoff date set for June 26. Current Ward 4 councilwoman is Carol Dillingham, according to the city council website.

While the majority of the OU campus lies within Ward 7, which had elections in March 2011, areas such as Campus Corner lie within the bounds of Ward 4.

Ward 4 encompasses Robinson Street to Lindsey Street with a western boundary at Berry Road and eastern boundary at 12th Avenue. It also includes a small section with a southern boundary of Imhoff Road and an eastern boundary of Chautauqua Avenue, according to the city of Norman webpage.

Abbott, 33, a former OU wrestler, graduated from OU with a bachelor’s in political science in 2005. His political background includes serving with the UOSA Undergraduate Student Congress and the OU Commuter Student Association, he said.

He currently works for Chickasaw Nation Industries in community development, he said.

Abbott is invested in the community and wants to stand up for the neighborhoods of Ward 4, he said.

“I want to see good things and progressive growth,” Abbott said. “I feel like I’m the progressive, business-friendly candidate.”

Abbott said he is concerned that the city wastes money on things like the roundabout at the east end of Main Street and speed humps throughout the city.

“We could be using this money to fix our roads or put in more bike lanes that serve OU students,” Abbott said. “The roads that go through the university are some of the most well-traveled roads through town.”

Former OU football coach Barry Switzer and former Oklahoma governor Brad Henry currently endorse Abbott, according to his campaign website.

Jungman, 35, holds a master’s in public administration from OU and is employed as the director of affordable housing for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, he said. He is also an adjunct professor of political science at Rose State College. Jungman said it is important to work well with the university, and a close relationship with Campus Corner businesses is crucial to developing Ward 4.

Norman City Council needs to bring OU officials to the table to solve problems such as parking on Campus Corner, Jungman said.

Road repairs, bike lanes and sidewalk upgrades are also important to him, he said.

“If drivers are responsible, bikers should be able to coexist on the roads,” Jungman said. “We can’t just say that cars are the only way to get around Norman, and that’s it. That’s just not good enough.”

At OU, Jungman helped register students to vote in elections, and he said he feels most OU students aren’t aware of the city election and the impact the student vote can make.

“The students should vote more in the local election,” Jungman said. “It’ll affect their life more.”

Jones, 36, owns Flower Gun Films, a local film production company, and is a partner at Downtown Sound, a Norman business that provides practice space to local musicians, he said.

He has served Norman on the board of directors for Norman Music Festival for the past four years and volunteered as treasurer for Dillingham, he said.

The economic development of Campus Corner is stunted because of a lack of parking, which he said he wants to fix by cooperating with OU to build a parking deck on land it owns.

“The university and the city should always work closely together ... for the greater common good of the entire community,” Jones said.

If students have issues with parking or roads in Norman, the best way to solve them is to vote on election day, Jones said.

“Any student at OU can go to a city council meeting and stand at the podium and express his or her opinions and concerns,” Jones said. “You’ve got to love being able to do that.”