The night will start with a “Meet & Greet” social period with the candidates and members of the public beginning at 5:30 p.m. The televised candidate forum will begin at 6 p.m."/>
The night will start with a “Meet & Greet” social period with the candidates and members of the public beginning at 5:30 p.m. The televised candidate forum will begin at 6 p.m."/> Commotion questions candidates for council | News, Sports, Jobs - FORT MYERS - Beach Observer and Beach Bulletin
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Commotion questions candidates for council

By Staff | Feb 16, 2011

Four candidates vying for three seats on the Fort Myers Beach Town Council will be answering issue-related questions at the Legislative Committee of the Greater Fort Myers Beach Area Chamber of Commerce “Commotion by the Ocean” forum at Town Hall on Thursday, Feb. 24.

The night will start with a “Meet & Greet” social period with the candidates and members of the public beginning at 5:30 p.m. The televised candidate forum will begin at 6 p.m.

The forum, which will feature the two incumbents, an unsuccessful candidate from last year’s elections and a newcomer to the town dais, will act as a great opportunity to hear what the town government candidates have to say on certain Beach issues. The general election for the legislative body is slated for March 8, 2011.

The format of the chamber forum will remain the same as in the past with the local chamber legislative committee members asking questions about Beach issues, speed-round questions, Beach Elementary School student questions and funny questions to lighten things up a bit. “Instead of having a hard-core candidates forum, the legislative committee wants to make it enjoyable as well as get the serious work done,” said FMB Chamber President John Albion, who will emcee the event. “The candidates normally come back very appreciative of it.”

The chamber format features the candidates choosing a panel member who, in turn, breaks open a sealed envelope to reveal and ask the question within.

“None of the panel members know what question they have in front of them, so when a candidate picks a panel member, it’s sort of like picking your own poison,” said Albion. “We can’t be accused of knowing the order of what question they get.”

Albion said candidates could expect to be queried on some aspect of major Beach issues such as Estero Boulevard; relationship with Lee County officials; Seafarer’s Mall property issue; LeeTran trolley service; and water quality on the Beach. The Chamber Legislative Committee will assemble the questions at a special meeting in the near future.

“We’ll also typically try to ask funny questions to try to stir things up as well as the speed round for quick reactions to questions,” said Albion.

The informative forum will offer a number of different viewpoints. Candidates will be asked to bring cookies depicting something about them and/or their campaign.

“I believe the cookies are always a great icebreaker,” said Albion, who noted one of the questions usually focuses on what type of cookies were brought. “It’s an opportunity to say something about yourself through an inanimate object.”

The Beach chamber panel is expected to be legislative committee members Marilyn Stout, Marguerite Burns, Roxie Smith, Fran Myers, Ellis Etter, Ann Alsop, Bill Van Duzer, Jennifer Seaborn and Andrew Cochrane, the chamber’s 2010 and 2011 chairman of the board. Two Beach Elementary students will ask questions as well.

The nonpolitical chamber’s Commotion by the Ocean event began in the early 1980s on top of the Lani Kai, after taking it over from the American Business Women’s Association. The Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Legislative Committee has offered it as a public service to the community for more than 20 years.

“We normally have a really strong showing from the candidates,” said Albion. “We hope that the community will take this opportunity and become educated on where these candidates stand and why they want to run for office.”