Hear from mayoral, council candidates at forum Oct. 29

LACONIA — Both candidates for mayor and most for city council will meet at the Belknap Mill at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 29, to discuss their campaign platforms.

The candidate forum, organized and hosted by volunteers of Citizens for Belknap and the Unitarian Universalist Society of Laconia, is moderated by longtime area attorney David Osman, and will run for about two hours. 

"Democracy is a precious thing, and we need informed citizen participation," Osman said Thursday afternoon. "It's critical, this is what allows us to move forward."

Osman is a partner at Martin, Lord & Osman in Laconia, and has spent 53 years as an attorney working in civil litigation and mediation. He also serves on the city’s Human Relation Committee. At present, his practice consists of acting as a neutral, third-party mediator of disputes.

"I'm just there to ensure a fair, unbiased, even-handed discussion," Osman said. He's been practicing law since 1972, and over the years, became more and more interested in the mediation process. Now, that's all he does. He noted some of those skills are transferable to moderation.

"People have a chance, in a sense, to express what's on their mind by asking candidates questions." 

The two candidates for mayor, Ward 1 Councilor Bruce Cheney and state Rep. Mike Bordes (R-Laconia), and nine candidates for city council have confirmed their attendance. 

The Municipal Election is Tuesday, Nov. 4. Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Find your polling station by navigating to laconianh.gov/177/Ward-Locations.

“This will be driven by questions from the audience,” Brian Beihl of Citizens for Belknap said in an interview. Most questions will be written on the spot, which is typical of such candidate forums.

The forum is designed to follow a similar format to that of panels hosted by the League of Women Voters. Those in attendance can pose written questions to the candidates using an index card. Only Laconia voters can submit questions to the candidates, and the moderator will set time limits for candidate responses. 

“We’ve found in the last two election cycles that voters will blindly vote for candidates without knowing anything about them,” Prudy Veysey, chair of Citizens for Belknap, wrote in a press release. “This forum gives voters an opportunity to find out how the candidates will address the serious issues before the City of Laconia: housing shortages, the unhoused, addiction, how taxpayer funds are spent, and what the future of Laconia will be.”

Beihl said he anticipates voters will be interested in topics like the city’s school budget, homelessness and housing — particularly in terms of affordability and availability — and what candidates might propose for city services, and questions regarding the Colonial Theatre, to name a few.

“Housing in particular, because it just impacts so many aspects of our daily lives,” Beihl said. 

Seating is limited, so organizers suggest arriving at the Belknap Mill 15 minutes early. There’s free parking in the lot at City Hall downtown, and the mill has an elevator to take attendees up to the third floor function space, where the forum will be held. The event will be streamed live on the Citizens for Belknap Facebook page, and Lakes Region Public Access TV will record the entirety of the forum for broadcast. 

“The more information that we have about the candidates for when we’re voting, the better we are as a county,” Beihl said, noting other than The Laconia Daily Sun, there aren’t many public forums for candidates to discuss their views and policy positions, hence the addition of one more.

“This may be your only opportunity to hear from the candidates before the Nov. 4 election about how they will represent and steward our city,” Rev. Judith Wright of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Laconia wrote in a release.

Voters can submit questions ahead of the forum to citizensforbelknapcounty@gmail.com. Submissions must include the voter's name, address and ward number.

“I would like voters to be thinking about what issues they think are the things that candidates are going to need to tackle in the next two years,” Beihl said, encouraging voters to bring those thoughts to the event.