PORT TOWNSEND — The League of Women Voters of Jefferson County is inviting residents to submit questions for Port Townsend City Council candidates with a forum less than a month away.
The forum, which will be livestreamed via the League website and simulcast on KPTZ-FM 91.9, is set for Oct. 7, 3½ weeks before the Nov. 2 general election.
The deadline for questions, which should be emailed to lwvjeffcowa@gmail.com, is noon Oct. 5.
Concise, unbiased questions will be given priority, and some questions may be combined, League President Angela Gyurko noted in a press release. She added that, unless the questions are directed to a specific set of candidates, they will be balanced between the two sets.
The City Council Position 1 candidates, vying for the seat being vacated by Michelle Sandoval, will take questions during the first hour of the forum from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. The hopefuls are Cameron Jones, 33, a yoga teacher and partner at Woodbridge Farm in Chimacum, and Ben Thomas, 50, the winemaker at Port Townsend Vineyards.
Next up: the Position 5 candidates who came out on top in the August primary election. Libby Urner Wennstrom, 58, a freelance technical writer and Jefferson County Democrats vice chairperson, and Tyler Myles Vega, 44, a computer technician, will answer questions from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
These candidates, who are running for the seat to be vacated by Pamela Adams, will tackle a different set of questions from the Position 1 candidates.
Links to the Oct. 7 forum, which voters can access from their computers or smartphones, will be posted on the League’s website at lwvwa.org/Jefferson on Sept. 23. The forum will also be recorded, edited solely for brevity, and eventually linked on the League’s website, Gyurko said in the press release.
One more seat on the seven-member Port Townsend City Council is to be filled by a newcomer: Position 2, which Ariel Speser will vacate at the end of the year. Aislinn Diamanti is running unopposed for that seat.
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
Libby Urner Wennstrom.
Ben Thomas.
Cameron Jones.