The Leader and Chamber of Commerce to host City Council Forum Oct. 24 at Depot

Both organizations are asking that the candidates appear before the public for a wide-ranging discussion of the issues facing the community. Invited candidates include,

Ray Madrigal in District A

Stuart Lyons in District A

Chad Billingsley in District C

Tony Garcia in District C

The forum is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 24 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lemoore Chamber of Commerce Railroad Depot, located at 300 E Street.

For the candidates – and the public – the Chamber and The Leader put together the following guidelines:

• Chamber Chief Executive Officer Amy Ward will act as moderator.

• Ward will provide the questions for the candidates.

• Candidates will have at least one or two minutes for an opening statement and one minute for a closing statement.

• Candidates will have two minutes to respond to questions. Candidates will be warned at the 30-second mark to conclude their remarks.

• Ward will decide, if time allows, audience questions. Questions will be submitted on a card, and the moderator will call on the person to ask a question.

The candidates are urged to make every effort to appear. Debates, forums, public chats before any gathering of citizens, whether it’s one or 100 persons, is a healthy way of generating new discussion or posing bold ideas. 

Debate also helps the citizenry better understand the many factors that go into political, civic, or public decisions. The Leader and the Chamber of Commerce urge the candidates to uphold their civic responsibility to the electorate and make every effort to attend Wednesday’s forum so that the “people” have a better understanding of their prospective civic leaders opinions and ideas.