BROOKINGS (9-22-26) — A candidate forum is taking place this Saturday at the Brookings City-County Government Center.
Casey Stickland is Community Development Specialist with the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance and will be moderating the forum… “We will have our five city council candidates joining us to talk about their vision if they were elected for that role. That starts at 9 a.m., and then we’ll roll right into our county forum — our County Commission forum. With those five candidates as well, in the … city-county chambers. And then at 11 a.m. there’ll be a sheriff forum hosted by CLEAR Partners also in the city-county chamber.”
Voters can email candidate questions to events@growthalliance.org — or attend in-person an submit candidate questions in writing.
Stickland said they encourage in-person attendance, but recordings of the forum will be made available elsewhere… “The recording from this will also be rebroadcast on the local TV channel as well as the Growth Alliance YouTube page.”
Five candidates are seeking two seats on the Brookings City Council. They are: Al Austreim, Brianna Doran, Lisa Hager, Shawn Hostler, and Wade Wantoch. Five candidates are vying for three open seats on the Brookings County Commission. They are: Alan Brutty, Larry Jensen, Michael Lambertus, Marty Stanwick and Kelly VanderWal. There are also two candidates for Brookings County Sheriff: David Biteler and Manny Langstraat.
Stickland said it’s wonderful to see so many candidates interested in local offices… “I think we have some great candidates, and we’re blessed to have so many candidates running for these positions. I think that’s something that Brookings can be proud of is the number of people interested in public service.”
He said public, local-level events like this are crucial to the success of democracy… “I think it’s super important just to be civically engaged in your community. These local positions are the ones that are truly affecting our day-to-day lives. I think we hear a lot from our federal level of there’s a lot of big decisions that are happening in D.C., but actually the decisions that are affecting you the most are happening on Third Street in the city-county building, so it’s really important to hear what their thoughts are for the county or the city, and share your thoughts with them. I think that’s one great thing about having these elected positions is they are there to listen to their constituents and get their perspective before they take votes on things.”
Again, the forum begins 9 a.m. Saturday on the third floor of the City-County Government Center.
Early/absentee voting is underway. The election is November 3 and the registration deadline is October 19.
— Brookings Radio News
