Leaders of the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce, radio station WIZS-1450 AM and The Dispatch have announced a Henderson City Council candidate’s forum.
The candidates will appear before the public on a live radio broadcast at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 22. The forum will be held in the county commissioners’ room at the Vance County Administrative Building, 122 Young Street, in Henderson.
A preliminary survey of all eight candidates for the four council seats indicates 100 percent participation. The trio of entities putting on the event will also solicit and include audience participation.
The forum’s format will be similar to those of the past in the city.
Candidates will be given two minutes for an opening statement. The question-and-answer session will include 60 seconds for each answer from candidates.
Questions from voters can be submitted in advance and upon arrival at the event. As many questions as time permits will be asked, with some duplication of topics adjusted to avoid redundancy. A panel void of conflicts of interest will assist in paring down submitted questions.
The forum wraps up with each candidate having 90 seconds for a closing statement.
Questions of candidates can be sent to rsvp@hendersonvance.org.
The forum will be available for replay on webcast at wizs.com, and The Dispatch will provide coverage at hendersondispatch.com and in the Sept. 24 print edition.
Doors open at 4 p.m. Candidates have been invited to meet with voters before and after the event. The forum itself is expected to run about 90 minutes.
The City Council seats up for grabs in the Oct. 8 election are at-large Ward 1, at-large Ward 2, Ward 3 and Ward 4.
Sara Coffey is challenged by Charles Douglas for the at-large Ward 1 seat; Mike Inscoe is challenged by Arnold Booth Jr. for the at-large Ward 2 position; Garry Daeke is challenged by Geraldine Champion for the Ward 3 seat; and Vernon Brown is challenged by Fearldine Simmons for the Ward 4 position.
Prudence I hope you will attend tomorrow’s candidate forum. I understand you can submit a question for the candidates to answer when you arrive for the forum. Can you think of anything more fun than to ask a candidate one question they don’t want or are unwilling to answer. Such as this should a city council member who has not paid all their property taxes be allowed to vote how to spend your tax dollars. And bring your friends Catfish, Dagny, Elmwood, mingo, Mr. Mojo, OILF, royal rooster, Deception, and all the other posters and readers of HiH to the candidate forum. Democracy requires our active participation.
Prudence remembers previous forums and found it most interesting that to the best of my recollection–no questions re unpaid taxes managed to make it past the unbiased panel. I also remember the answers were the standard acknowledgement of problems but very little substance on how they’d fix this mess.
PC rules –and how unfortunate don’t you agree.
Prudence, you and others are needed to attend the candidate forum if we expect any change in city government. I submitted several questions for review and consideration by those empowered to choose the questions for the candidates. One of those questions was the same tax question I have had printed in the paper’s editorial page. Maybe they’ll use it and maybe they won’t. If you and others show up and write the same question about paying property taxes before you run for office eventually even the most ardent supporter of the status quo will understand it is an important issue. The other side of the tax question has to do with those wanting something from the city. They need to pay their taxes before asking for a zoning change or support for their cause. Prudence the city needs you and others to attend the meeting if we expect any change.
I hate to tell you what you already know Mr. Bobbitt but in the city of Henderson and the county of Vance the most powerful people aren’t the ones with the vote. It’s the select few who “pull the strings” of the city council, county commissioners, and school board to a lesser degree. Remember when the Certificate of Occupancy was put into place by the older and much wiser council of yount,harper,wilkerson, and crew? What happened when the “new direction” was voted in? 1st order of business was to get rid of the Certificate of Occupancy and the slumlords were dancing in the streets. It will be “interesting” when some of the old farts die off to see who will take there place in ‘governing behind the scene’.
Here’s a question for the current council members who voted for the tax increase…..Why in the “H” did you vote to raise taxes when the economy is in the shape it is and people are working 2-3 jobs(if they can find one) to just be able to put food on the table? It will be a good ? for the Mayoral Election if and when purdy pete decides to run again b/c he cast the tie-breaking vote. W/O his vote the taxes wouldn’t have been increased!! That’s something that could be used against him by whomever decides to challenge him in the Mayor’s Race.
After yesterday’s candidate forum it was quite evident that Council Members have had a change of heart about the need for rental housing inspections. The continual deterioration of our inner city housing had both incumbents and all challengers railing about the deplorable conditions of Henderson’s rental housing. Incumbents, Sara Coffey, Vernon Brown and Garry Daeke were clearly in favor of said inspections and all challengers were in favor as well. Kudo’s to Garry fro never wavering on this issue. The man’s got a real heart for the people of Henderson! Clearly incumbent Mike Inscoe stood as the lone candidate that thought that the condition of our inner city neighborhood housing and the inspection process are just fine as is. Wow! … yeah WOW! I guess either he doesn’t get out much or there’s some personal business interests involved. You’ll have to guess which. All I can say is I hope Mr. Arnold Booth wins the election. I’m confident he’ll bring real compassion and honesty to the table. He’s a good man!