WGIL and Tri States Public Radio will host a Galesburg candidate forum Tuesday, March 14 in Hegg Performing Arts Center at Galesburg High School.
The forum will feature candidates running for Galesburg City Council and District 205 school board. The school board candidates’ forum will run from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and the city council forum will follow at 7 p.m.
The forum is free and open to the public.
For those unable to attend, the forums will air live and also be streamed on WGIL Radio and wgil.com, and video will be streamed on Facebook by Tri States Public Radio.
Moderators for the forum will be Jay Redfern, content director at WGIL, and Jane Carlson, regional reporter at Tri States Public Radio.
There are nine candidates vying for four Galesburg City Council seats in the April 4 election. All have agreed to participate in the forum. They are: incumbent Bradley Hix and challenger Steven “Champ” Coleman in Ward 1; incumbent Kevin Wallace and challengers Evan Miller and Thomas Roberts in Ward 3; incumbent Jaclyn Smith-Esters and challenger Heather Zeigler Acerra in Ward 5; and incumbent Larry Cox and challenger Steve Cheesman in Ward 7.
Incumbents running for re-election in District 205 are seats held by Tianna Cervantez and Courtney Rodriguez within the district, and Rodney Phelps in remaining townships. Challengers are Jake Taylor (within the district) and David A. Sharp (remaining townships).
Cervantez, Rodriguez and Sharp have agreed to participate in the forum. Phelps and Taylor have said they will be unable to attend.
Each candidate will make a brief introduction and then answer questions from the moderators.
