Note your calendar for the first forums for those running for Hawaii County Mayor.  Waimea Community Association, which has conducted candidate forums since the 1970s, will present virtual, online Mayor forums at 5 p.m. on Monday, June 8, Tuesday, June 9, and Wednesday, June 10.  The forums will be presented “live” on Facebook and then be posted to the Waimea Community Association’s You Tube Channel for those who are not able to watch the Facebook forums.

All 16 filed candidates for the Mayor’s race have been invited.    James Hustace, President of Waimea Community Association, will moderate the forums.   By the deadline for the community to submit questions, the WCA had received nearly 100 questions.  Obviously not all will be asked.

The Mayor race is nonpartisan, so the race could be decided in the Saturday, August 8 election.  A note that all voting will be by mail, so people will have to mail their ballots by August 5 to get them into the County Elections Office on time.  There will also be drop boxes at several locations around the island.

Candidates currently confirmed to participate in alphabetical order for each day include the below, but the schedule may be rearranged:

• Monday, June 8: Neil Azevedo, Bob Fitzgerald, Wendell Kaʻehuʻaeʻa, Yumi Kawano, Mitch Roth and Mike Ruggles.
• Tuesday, June 9: Paul Bryant, Kelly Greenwell,  Stacy Higa, Harry Kim and Tante Urban.
• Wednesday, June 10: Michael Glendon, Ikaika Marzo, Ted Shaneyfelt

HOW TO LOG IN TO WATCH THE FORUMS ‘LIVE’ ON FACEBOOK: 

Go to www.Facebook.com/WaimeaCommunity Association at 4:55 p.m. and look for link that will be posted just at the start of the program.  After the fact, a YouTube  link will be posted to FB and the association’s website to watch a replay.

Waimea Community Association will offer other candidate forums later in the year, prior to the August 8 all-mail election.