Port Wentworth City Council candidates' forum scheduled for Oct. 12
The Port Wentworth Chamber of Commerce is hosting a City Council candidates forum at 7 p.m. Thursday at the CLIC center.
The candidates running are ArtLise Alston-Cone, Avril Roy-Smith, Thomas Barbee, the incumbent, and Lashawn Benton, who are all running for the two at-large seats; Mark Stephens, incumbent and only candidate for District 2; and Shawn Randerwala, the only candidate for District 4; Gabrielle Nelson, in District 1 and Rufus Bright, District 3, are not up for reelection yet.
According to Trisha Boyett, the chair for the Chamber, every year they've had the forum it has been well-received.
"It's a really great opportunity for our residents and our business community to get exposure to everybody that's running for office," Boyett said. "And to give all of the candidates a platform, to really get the message out and communicate with the public."
More: Here are the qualified candidates for the Port Wentworth elections on Nov. 7.
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The forum will be moderated by evening anchor Dawn Baker with WTOC. All of the questions that are generated come from the community and can be submitted through this link until 5 p.m. Oct. 11. Usually, Boyett said they would ask the questions by district, but since two of the seats are running unopposed they are going to have all the questions for each candidate to answer.
"It's broken down by topic, by economic development, community development, city services, so on and so forth," Boyett said. "We also have a general column, and all of those questions are screened by a panel to make sure they're appropriate for this format."
After all of the questions are asked by the moderator, closing statements will follow and if there's additional time, the floor will be open for questions.
"We're very excited to provide this community service to the residents," Boyett said. "We feel like bringing opportunities like this to educate the public and get them in a position where they can ask questions of the people who hold leadership positions is an excellent opportunity."
Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for Chatham County municipalities for Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Port Wentworth Chamber of Commerce to host candidates' forum on Oct. 12
