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Discussion and potential planning for 2024 candidate forum for Alderperson and Mayor
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Submitted by:
Melissa Cantarero Weiss, Deputy City Administrator
Department:
Administration
Based on the feedback from the Committee at a previous meeting, staff reached out to potential third party facilitators for the forum and received a commitment from the Wauwatosa West Allis Chamber of Commerce to host and facilitate the event at City Hall. They are available on Thursday, March 7 at 6:30 pm for the event and both candidates for Mayor are also available to participate on this date and time, which is two weeks before in-person absentee voting begins for the April election.
The Chamber of Commerce has selected their Board President to facilitate the event, Jen Puente. They expressed that they are interested in hosting a neutral event that will allow the public to learn about candidates running for office.
With that in mind, they prefer that the city provide the possible questions for the facilitator to ask. Below are three options for the Committee to consider for developing questions:
• Each Chair and Vice Chair of a Council Standing Committee and the Chair of the Committee of the Whole write two questions each pertaining to that Committee’s area of focus for the city. The facilitator would randomly select from the questions, asking candidates one question from each of the five subject areas - Transportation Affairs, Government Affairs, Financial Affairs, Community Affairs, and Committee of the Whole.
• Every member of the Common Council, except those seeking the office of Mayor, write one question pertaining to the areas of policy the Common Council acts on and the facilitator would randomly select questions from the submissions.
• Each outgoing elected official not seeking office in 2024 drafts three questions pertaining to the areas of policy the Common Council acts on and the facilitator would randomly select questions from the submissions.
Below is a summary of the proposed event format.
1. The facilitator will introduce the event and the event format, including a statement about the Chamber’s political neutral intention in hosting the event.
2. Each candidate for the office for Alderperson will be able to give a two minute statement about why they are seeking office.
3. Each candidate for Mayor will be able to give a two minute statement about why they are seeking office.
4. Each candidate for Mayor will be asked a total of five questions and will be asked the same questions. The candidates will alternate responding first and second and the candidate to answer the first question first will be selected by a random selection process, such as a flipping of a coin or drawing a name from a hat.
5. After the formal portion of the event concludes, members of the public can approach individual candidates for office to speak with them or ask questions in a one on one format until the end of the event. This portion of the event is anticipated to last no longer than 30 minutes.
The city will record the event using the existing AV technology in the Council Chambers and provide a link to watch the formal portion of the event (numbers 1 to 4 above) until the election. This will allow any voter who is unable to attend the event in person to watch it at their convenience.
Staff seeks direction on the method for drafting questions and the event format.