Video of City Council Candidates' Forum

East Ridge News Online sponsored a City Council Candidates’ Forum Monday night at City Hall.

There are two open seats on the five-member board. Vice Mayor Marc Gravitt chose not to seek re-election, and Councilman Denny Manning has served 12 years and is term limited by the City Charter.

Those running for office are: Jim Bethune, Matthew DeGlopper, Esther Helton, Doris Rogers, Gregg Shipley, Robert Stahl and Brian Williams.

The questions asked during the forum were submitted by readers of East Ridge News Online. A four-person committee reviewed the questions and individually assigned a numeric value to the questions. The questions with the highest numeric value were asked first.

Special thanks to moderator Dr. Rick Wilson, professor of Political Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and Bill Shipley of Bill Shipley Photography, the videographer of the event.

Early voting begins on Wednesday, Oct. 19 and runs through Nov. 3. To find a listing of early voting precincts click here..

Below is the video of the entire forum. Below that is a list of the questions asked along with links to the specific section of video for that question.

What are the duties of a city council member according the charter?

https://youtu.be/uZzAxprNfkc?t=20m30s

One hundred people work in the city, currently minorities make up less than 4% of this workforce. There are no minorities in the police, or fire departments or any administration. Since the city does abide by title 6 of the civil rights act of 1964 how would you address this situation given the fact that the city council doesn’t hire or fire? Should there be more and how would you address the issue?

https://youtu.be/uZzAxprNfkc?t=25m17s

A piece of legislation was passed to create matching grants up to $20,000 per applicant to encourage existing businesses to revitalize their properties. So far only a few businesses have been awarded any funds. What would you do to promote this program?

https://youtu.be/uZzAxprNfkc?t=32m25s

What would you do to promote or improve transparency in the local governing body.

https://youtu.be/uZzAxprNfkc?t=37m57s

What is your vision both short term and your longer term vision?

https://youtu.be/uZzAxprNfkc?t=44m18s

What in your opinion is most needed to be fixed in East Ridge and how would you do it?

https://youtu.be/uZzAxprNfkc?t=55m18s

What motivated you to run for the council? Can you give us a reason why you should get the citizens vote and what you would do to improve the city?

https://youtu.be/uZzAxprNfkc?t=1h4m47s

Explain the Border Region Act and how it helps the city.

https://youtu.be/uZzAxprNfkc?t=1h14m4s

What if any positions or departments would you like to create to help improve the city?