By EMILY WILSON
Special to Atmore News
The Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce to hold candidate digital forum inviting all qualifying candidates whether opposed or unopposed running for political office in the City of Atmore to participate.
Throughout the country, in today’s political climate, politics are becoming a very contentious area. The Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce believes now more than ever it is imperative that we as a community must take an active role in our city’s future. While the August 25th elections for City Council and Mayor only occurs once every four years, with the amount of coverage it gets, it can seem a lot more often. It is easy for any of us to become desensitized to the issues, and the noise.
As the voice of business, we recognize we must look out for the needs of the businesses. Though already championing business needs on many fronts the Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce recognizes it is an ideal platform for each candidate to connect with community members. These connections are critical to helping us all be “in-the-know” on current events. We all have an obligation to be educated about the choices before us thereby enabling us to make the best decision for ourselves, businesses, and our community. We must all be familiar with how each candidate plans to help our community power Atmore forward. With this in mind, we invite each qualifying candidate for both City Council and the Office of Mayor to schedule a time to sit down with the Chamber Executive Director, Emily Wilson. During their time together each candidate will answer 20 important questions (20 Questions with The Candidate) regarding Atmore and their plans for it.
Candidates will be invited to film their interviews at their convenience between Wednesday, July 22nd, and Wednesday, August 5th. All candidates will be asked the same 20 questions (provided to each candidate in advance of filming, via e-mail, upon scheduling). Interviews will be conducted in a Q&A style at the Chamber. Each candidate will be allotted a maximum amount of 30 minutes recorded (published) time and 1 hour to record (allowing for re-records). Once all qualifying candidates have been interviewed and/or the deadline for filming has passed each interview video will be posted and shared on Chamber’s website and Facebook page collectively on the same date (Friday, August 7th) and time allowing for the same screening time for all. Additionally, links to the interviews will be sent via the Chambers newsletter.
It is the Chamber’s goal to provide access to these future leaders that our members and community may not have had otherwise. We look forward to learning about each candidate and their vision for Atmore!
Emily Wilson is executive director of the Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce.