Davis City Council Candidate Forum Sponsored by League of Women Voters
September 12, 2022
(From press release) The League of Women Voters, Davis Area and Davis Media Access will co-host a candidate forum for the Davis City Council elections on Thursday, September 29th, 7:00 pm – 9pm, with the doors opening at 6:30pm. This nonpartisan election forum will be held at Community Chambers, 23 Russell Blvd., Davis.
The forum will feature candidates: Dan Carson, Kelsey Fortune and Bapu Vaitla from District 1, and candidates Adam Morrill and Gloria Partida from District 4. Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th. The event will be moderated by LWV Board Member Michelle Famula, MD.
The public is encouraged to attend although seating is limited and free tickets must be obtained ahead of time on Eventbrite at: lwvdaviscitycouncilforum.eventbrite.com
Questions will be prepared by League representatives and written questions will be accepted from the audience, but no spoken questions or statements will be allowed from the audience.
Community members may submit questions for candidates in advance at: [email protected] by TUESDAY 9/27. Please submit only one question. All questions will be directed to all the candidates.
Davis Media Access will live stream the event as well as record the event which will be available to voters on LWV website – lwvdavisarea.org
Partida and Carson were elected in 2018 to the Davis City Council in what would be the last at-large election in which city residents could cast votes for any council candidates. This time around, they will be running in district elections, along with: Adam Morrill who works for the city’s Department of Pubic Works handling environmental compliance for solid waste and water waste; Bapu Vaitla, a data science fellow at Data2X/United Nations Foundation and currently a member of the city’s Social Services Commission; and Kelsey Fortune, associate executive director for Purple Tree Cafe, and Ph.D. Candidate in Economics, UCD.
Back in 2020, voters in Districts 2, 3 and 5 elected their representatives in the first by-district council elections. Now it’s the turn of voters in District 1 and District 4.
Davis resident Michelle Famula, MD will moderate the forum. Michelle has been a resident of the Davis area for 40 years. After a 35-year career as a physician with UC Davis, she retired from the University of California where she had served as Director of the Student Health Services (1997-2016) and Executive Director of Health and Wellness Services for the Division of Student Affairs from 2010-2016. Dr. Famula currently holds an appointment as Assistant Clinical Professor, VCF Series, in the School of Medicine Department of Public Sciences. She serves as a Member-At-Large on the Yolo County Health Council and is proud to Chair the LWVDA Healthcare Committee and serve on the Voter Registration Committee.
I appreciate how in person attendance doesn't provide any specific advantages.
However I am curious if the one question for all candidates thing is what's been done in the past.
There are clearly some general questions that apply to all candidates but there are also specific ones, relevant to geography and of course prior record of the candidate.
Posted by: Todd Edelman | September 12, 2022 at 07:28 AM
Certainly there will be too many unique questions from the public and we should trust the organizers to pick the best ones that compliment their own.
But as all the questions are coming in electronically it would be great if they were released soon after the event , obviously with identifying information removed.
It will be especially useful to know which kinds of questions are being asked repeatedly.
Posted by: Todd | September 12, 2022 at 08:32 AM
It is my opinion that seats be given to people who live in the voting districts before opening it up to others living outside the districts.
Posted by: Sharla Cheney | September 12, 2022 at 02:54 PM
Nope. What these people do effects us all. Districts suck. Thanks Rexroad.
Posted by: Alan C. Miller | September 12, 2022 at 11:41 PM
Rexroad didn't choose to go to district elections, this city council did.
Worse, the council decided to do so without the public's consent. That is the pattern that has to change. We need council members who represent what the public desires. I hope the LWV explores the issue of representation.
Posted by: Bob Milbrodt | September 13, 2022 at 10:56 PM