Published: October 11, 2008 10:13 pm            

16 Berea council candidates expected for Tuesday forum

7 p.m. at municipal building

BEREA — All eight incumbents, along with eight challengers, are seeking election to a two-year term on the Berea City Council.

The candidates are elected at large, with voters casting ballots for up to eight candidates.

Voters will get a chance to see and hear the candidates respond to questions at 7 p.m. Tuesday at a forum conducted by the League of Women Voters of Berea and Madison County.

The forum will take place in the council chambers of the Berea Municipal Building, 314 Chestnut St., and will be carried live on Time Warner Cable channel 12 in Berea.

The league will be collecting questions from the public through Monday evening, said its president, Elizabeth Crowe, who will moderate the forum.

Questions may be e-mailed to lwvbmc@yahoo.com.

Questions submitted so far cover a wide range of topics, from taxes and city finances to the quality of city services, such as fire and police protection. Other questions cover planning and zoning, parks and recreations and activities for youth.

With so many candidates, the league will employ a new format to keep the forum lively and hold viewer interest, Crowe said.

“We have divided the candidates into two groups by the order in which they will appear on the ballot,” she said. “The first eight will be questioned in the first hour, followed by the others.”

Instead of asking each candidate the same question in succession, candidates will have the option of answering a new question.

“After one candidate answers a question, the next candidate may ask for a new question drawn at random from a stack on the moderator’s table,” Crowe said.

That will make the process less predictable and allow more questions to be asked, she said.

Candidates will not have the option of addressing earlier questions or commenting on other candidate’s responses.

However, “Everyone will be free to make other comments in their closing statements,” she said.

The incumbent council members are Howard Baker, Virgil Burnside, Violet “Vi” Farmer, Truman Fields, Denise Hagan, Glenn Jennings, Greg Lakes and Chester Powell.

The challengers include Hubert Chasteen Jr., J. Donald “Don” Graham, Glenn David Johnson, Robert “Peanuts” Johnson, Jerry Little, Ronnie Terrill, Troy VanWinkle and Billy Wagers.



Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 623-1669, Ext. 267.

        

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