Neighborhood Council holds city commission candidate forum

Burry Gowen, president, will serve as moderator and will ask questions collected from residents when the Neighborhood Council of St Augustine presents its 2022 City Commission Candidate Forum on Wednesday, October 19th at the Waterworks Building, located at 184 San Marco Avenue.

Historic City News subscribers and local voters have a great opportunity to meet the candidates for St Augustine city commission and hear their positions before going to the voting booth on November 8th. The four candidates running for the two vacant city commission seats will be featured. This year’s participants are Cynthia Garris and Bruce Maguire who are running for Seat 4 and Melinda Rakoncay and Jim Springfield who are running for Seat 5.

“St Augustine and its neighborhoods will confront many urgent issues over the coming years,” Gowen told Historic City News, as he stressed the importance of voter education. “The decisions that the winners of this year’s election will make around these issues will shape the face and character of the City for decades to come.”

The Forum is open to the public and there is no fee to attend, though seating is limited. Doors will open at 5:45 p.m. and the formal program will begin at 6:05 p.m. Following the formal program, attendees will have time, until 8:15 p.m., to mingle with and speak to the candidates more informally.

The format this year will be like the format of Neighborhood Council forums held in past years. The questions were selected from those sent in by neighbors from all over the city. Questions will not be given to the candidates ahead of time. All candidates will be asked the same questions. No questions will be taken from the audience on October 19th.