Last year about this time, I was invited to serve as a moderator in a series of community forums. One of the topics had to do with the public’s lack of interest in government — especially on a local level.
In a few weeks, our readers will have an opportunity to show up at the ballot box. Municipal and school elections will be held on April 6. As I look at ballots, I see open positions where no candidate filed. Voter turnout, as usual, is expected to be low. Yet, now, more than ever, these local elected officials have the power to determine the fate of your town and your children’s education.
As usual, we will carry stories about races and issues in our paper, and we will publish our voter’s guide the Sunday before the election. We’re also adding something that the Globe hasn’t done in quite a while — a candidate forum.
We’ve selected the Joplin City Council general election race as the subject for the forum slated at 7 p.m. Thursday. It will unfold in a live broadcast from the studio of KGCS-TV, the television station of Missouri Southern State University.
Questions will be posed by Debby Woodin, the Globe’s city hall reporter; Alexandra Nicolas, representing the Chart, the MSSU student-run newspaper; and Rhonda Justice, an anchor for KOAM-TV. Our reporter, Greg Grisolano will cover the event via Facebook during the event.
Mayor Pro Tem Mike Woolston is the incumbent remaining in the race. Other candidates are Jack Golden, Kelly Maddy, Trisha Raney and Kevin York. Longtime incumbent Phil Stinnett dropped out of the race last week due to health concerns, and another candidate, Erik Wright, withdrew last month, saying a family obligation had arisen that would require him to be out of town too much to serve.
The five remaining candidates are vying for three open seats. We expect the forum to be lively and informative and give Joplin voters an opportunity to hear the candidates for themselves.
We are also inviting a panel of Joplin residents to sit in and listen to the forum. You’ll be able to hear their reaction to the candidate’s answers immediately following the forum.
While we’ve prepared questions, we’re also interested in questions from the community. Send me yours at cstark@joplinglobe.com or call me at 627-7278 before Thursday.
Another opportunity to learn more about the five Joplin City Council candidates is coming up at 6 p.m. March 23 when the Young Professionals Network of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce will hold a round-robin candidate forum. That forum will be held in the council chambers on the fifth floor of City Hall, 602 S. Main St. Residents may submit questions by calling the chamber at 624-4150.
Here’s just a few reasons why this particular race should be important to you:
* Future development of Joplin parks will be in the hands of this council.
* Decisions about incentives to bring new business and new jobs to Joplin will be made by this council.
* Ideas about planning and zoning, local tourism and community neighborhood improvement will all be generated by this council.
You can sit home and complain about the direction of local government, or you can choose to get involved now in the selection of your council representatives.
It’s your choice, but we hope you’ll engage.
Carol Stark is editor of The Joplin Globe. Address correspondence to her, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, Mo. 64802 or e-mail cstark@joplinglobe.com.
