Mayor candidate forum set to go Tuesday

Tim Leeds Havre Daily News [email protected]

Havre voters will have their first chance to see face-to-face campaigning Tuesday as the democratic candidates in the mayor's race face off in a public forum at the Havre Eagles Club. Havre City Council member Allen “Woody” Woodwick, who is part of the committee putting on the forum, said the Hill County Democratic Party sponsored the event to give people a view of the candidates before ballots for the primary election are mailed out Wednesday. “We want to kind of showcase the candidates, of course, being that they are from our party, but also give a conscientious, clear view of where they stand,” Woodwick said. Former Havre City Council Member Gary Glock and former Hill County Sheriff Tim Solomon are running for mayor on the Democratic ticket. That is the only contested race in the primary, although city judge candidates David Krezelak and Margaret Hencz, in a nonpartisan race, also will be on the ballot. As the top two candidates advance in the race for judge, both also will be in the general election. The forum for the mayoral candidates, which is being preceded by a burger-feed fundraiser for the Hill County Democratic Party at the club, is set to start at 7 p.m. The format of the forum is: each candidate will have five minutes to make an opening statement, the candidates will be asked a series of questions, then have five minutes in which to make a closing statement. Woodwick said index cards will be available at the door, on which people can write down questions they would like the candidates to answer. The moderator Rep. Bob Bergren, D-Havre, the Speaker of the Montana House of Representatives, has been invited to moderate will select several of the questions from the audience to ask each candidate, Woodwick said. Several questions picked by the committee, comprising Woodwick, Bergren and City Council member Pam Hillery, will be asked of each candidate. Woodwick said several questions regarding issues facing Havre have been selected, including the candidates' positions on Havre's efforts to annex property into the city limits; do the candidates think services could be improved and should the city and county share the provision of some services; how could city-county relations be improved; do the candidates support the city paying $30,000 to support the new busing system that went into effect today; and what their positions are on using a charter-form of government for Havre and on whether Havre should create and operate a port authority. Woodwick said he doesn't expect the forum to last longer than an hour.