Neighborhood Council
of St. Augustine

The Neighborhood Council of St. Augustine will present its 2022 City Commission Candidate Forum on Wednesday, October 19 at the Waterworks Building, 184 San Marco Avenue from 5:45 pm to 8:15 pm. The Forum is open to the public and there is no fee to attend, though seating is limited. The Forum will feature the four candidates who will be running for the two vacant seats on the City Commission. This year’s candidate participants are Cynthia Garris and Bruce Maguire who are running for Seat 4 on the City Commission and Melinda Rakoncay and Jim Springfield who are running for Seat 5.

Doors will open at 5:45 pm and the formal program will begin at 6:05 pm. The format for this year’s Forum will be similar to Forums held in past years. Burry Gowen, Neighborhood Council president, will serve as moderator and will ask the candidates questions selected from those sent in by neighbors from all over the city. Questions will not be given ahead of time to the candidates. All candidates will be asked the same questions and, to avoid planted questions designed to help candidates, no questions will be taken from the audience. Following the formal program there will be time for attendees to mingle with and speak to the candidates more informally.

St. Augustine and its neighborhoods will confront many urgent issues over the coming years. The decisions that the winners of this year’s City Commission election will make around these issues will shape the face and character of the City for decades to come. The Candidate Forum will be a great opportunity for voters to meet the candidates for City Commission and hear their stances before going to the voting booth in November. Make sure to put this important event on your calendars and we’ll see you on the 19^th of October.