Really want to honor and celebrate the contributions in the culture of our Indigenous peoples who have been in these lands for a very long time, and still are.

So thank you for joining me in really honoring and celebrating this day.

I'm sure I put it on silent mode.

Go ahead and check just to make sure it's our thing out the door.

You came in, uh, and then off through the hallway and up.

And um, also just want to know, mention this when we get started.

But thank you in advance for helping make sure this is just a really safe and comfortable and respectful space.

Um, so we'll ask in the script uh once we start to refrain from applauding, booing, making noises.

We just really find that that just creates a better environment for everyone in which candidates can hear the question and you can hear all of them.

And at the very end of the forum, I'll invite everyone to join in and celebrating all of the candidates.

So if you can hold your applies until then, that would be great.

Um, Joe, anything else?

Okay.

Then if you all are ready, I think we're ready.

Great.

Welcome to the City of Lafayette City Council Candidate Forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Boulder County and Sister Carmen Community Center.

My name is Elizabeth Crow.

I'm a proud member of the League of Women Voters of Boulder County, and I'm pleased to serve as your moderator for tonight's forum.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization.

For 105 years at the national level and 94 years here in Boulder County, the League has encouraged informed and active participation in government.

The Sister Carmen Community Center provides comprehensive basic needs, services, and resources to the most vulnerable residents in East Boulder County.

Through their family centered programming, Sister Carmen promotes health, safety, well being, and economic stability for people experiencing hardship.

Neither the league nor Sister Carmen support or oppose political candidates or parties.

And now onto the forum.

The Lafayette City Council consists of seven members who are elected on a nonpartisan basis in odd numbered years.

Terms are staggered, so the council always consists of experienced members.

Four seats must be filled each election year.

The three counselors with the highest number of votes serve four year terms, and the fourth receive serves a two-year term.

Ten candidates are running for these four seats.

The forum for tonight will be as follows.

Each candidate will have one minute for an opening statement.

We will then begin with questions that have been submitted from the audience, including those that have been submitted by the Lafayette community online prior to tonight.

Audience members may submit questions by writing them on index cards available from our volunteers.

And thank you.

Please raise your hand if you need a card, a pencil, or a pen.

Once you have written your question, please catch the attention of our volunteers and give the card to them.

Questions should be addressed to all candidates rather than directing a question to only one or two particular candidates.

And I ask that you submit your questions very early in the forum so we can try to kind of group them and get as many answered as possible.

Our screening team here will provide and uh possibly combine several similar questions into one question on that topic.

And we'll also ask the candidates to answer as many questions as time permits.

In most instances, each candidate will have one minute to answer the question.

However, if we go longer than that, probably not shorter.

Um I'll announce that at the front end, and our timekeepers will help notify you when it's uh time to time to wrap it up.

Again, to our audience members, please do not interrupt or disrupt the forum.

This means refraining from clapping, booing, you wouldn't do that, um, or otherwise showing your approval or disapproval of any candidate.

The candidates are seated in the order that they will appear on the general election ballot.

And now for the opening statements and the questions.

For the opening statements, we'll begin with candidate Gianola, and again, you'll have all have one minute to respond.

Please go ahead.

Thanks.

My name is Adam Ginola.

I've been a Lafayette resident for 19 years and a community volunteer for about half that time.

In my day job, I'm an attorney for a small business.

My priorities are community and sustainability.

I focus on community because that's what we are.

We're we're residents, we're volunteers, we're neighbors, we're artists, we're business owners, we're workers, we're parents and friends.

And I think we want to preserve the character of our community and what makes Lafayette great.

Uh we welcome everyone and we strive to help each other out, uh, even if we get cut off in traffic.

Uh there's a lot of things that come under that umbrella.

Uh, we want to leave the planet better than we found it.