BERLIN – In September, The Dispatch will host two planned virtual town halls with candidates for the open Berlin Mayor and Council seats.
On Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 6 p.m., candidates for the town’s mayoral seat will be featured in an extensive question-and-answer session with Editor Steve Green and Staff Writer Charlene Sharpe. Each candidate will be invited to participate in the Zoom session, which will be recorded and a link provided through The Dispatch’s social media outlets the day after the meeting for the public to watch as their schedule allows.
On Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 6 p.m., council candidates for the District 2 and 3 seats as well as the at-large posts will participate in a Zoom town hall in a similar format. A link to the recorded town hall will be provided online as well the day after the session.
The candidates will receive a set of topics to be discussed ahead of time from the newspaper. Residents who wish to have a question asked to the candidates are invited to email them to [email protected]. There will be time allowed for the moderators to pose questions to the candidates from the public. All questions would need to be submitted by Friday, Sept. 11 for the mayoral town hall and Friday, Sept. 18 for the council forum. Each official candidate will receive a Zoom link from the newspaper ahead of time.
“We are looking forward to sponsoring these discussions next month through an online format,” said Green. “Interest in politics in Berlin is running high these days and we think helping to educate the electorate on the candidates’ views on current events is a worthy service.”
The filing deadline for the Berlin election is Sept. 4. The election is planned for Oct. 6.