Upcoming candidate forum features Camas races

One of the only local candidate forums planned this General Election season will be held Monday, Oct. 24, in Camas.

The Camas Youth Advisory Council event will begin at 7 p.m., at the Camas High School Theatre. Three local races will be featured including Camas City Council Ward 3 (Shannon Turk and Margaret Tweet); Port of Camas-Washougal Commission District 2 (Neil Cahoon and Bill Ward); and Camas mayor (Scott Higgins and Ken Kakuk).

According to CYAC member and CHS senior Sam Svilar, the format will include an opening statement from each candidate, followed by questions from the CYAC, then a closing statement from each candidate.

The event is organized entirely by students.

“We, the members of the council, research the races ourselves, and generate our own questions based on the issues,” he said. “At the forum itself, the students are the ones who run the event with members of the [CYAC] acting as emcee as well as asking the questions.”

The CYAC is made up of Camas High School students who meet weekly during the school year and offer the city input on a variety of local issues that impact young people. Camas School Board member Casey O’Dell is an advisor to the group. Higgins, who is a co-founder of the CYAC, has not been involved with the forum this year since he is a candidate, O’Dell said.

In addition to Svilar, other members of the Camas Youth Advisory Council include seniors Danielle Colwell, Alyssa Pietz and Ashley Sturza; juniors Meg Culbertson, Triton Pitassi and Amanda Reiter; sophomores Carson Dunn, Riley Hein and Olivia Moar; and freshman Caroline Kealoha.

According to Svilar, efforts are underway to arrange for the forum to be filmed by CVTV, which would make the event available on-demand and for viewing on channels 21 and 23.

According to the Clark County Elections Office, ballots for the Nov. 8 General Election will be mailed Wednesday, Oct. 19. Ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 8 to be counted.

To date, this is the only General Election forum that includes local races.

A Washougal City Council Primary Election candidate forum, organized by the League of Women Voters of Clark County, was held July 19. According to Marjorie Ledell of the LWVCC, no additional forums featuring Camas-Washougal races are currently planned.

Additional information about the candidates, including profile articles published in the Post-Record, is available at www.camaspostrecord.com.

The Camas High School Theatre is located at 26900 S.E. 15th St. For more information about the CYAC forum, call CHS at 833-5750.