Stephenie Dodson and Kristine LaLonde, candidates in the Metro Council District 18 election run-off, will face each other during a public forum Sunday, April 19, at Eakin School. The meeting will be from 3 to 4 p.m. in the school’s auditorium.
Dodson, the after-school programs coordinator and summer camp director at Percy Priest Elementary School, and LaLonde, a Belmont University professor, received the highest number of votes in the March 26 contest. The run-off is scheduled for April 30. Early voting is available from April 10 through April 25.
Howard Gentry, chief executive officer of the Nashville Chamber Public Benefit Foundation and former vice mayor of Nashville, will serve as forum moderator. He will ask the candidates a series of questions selected from submissions by the forum planning committee as well as other interested citizens. The public can email questions in advance to 18thdistrictforum@vanderbilt.edu. They can also submit questions in writing at the forum until 2:55 p.m., which is five minutes before candidates give their opening statements.
Dodson and LaLonde have set times to answer the questions and respond to each other’s statements. Each also has the opportunity to ask her opponent one question.
The forum is sponsored by Belmont Hillsboro Neighbors, Hillsboro West End Neighbors, Hillsboro Village Merchants Association, West End businesses, Belmont and Vanderbilt universities. For more information, call 322-8337.
Media Contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, (615) 322-NEWS
annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu