Welcome to this debate with the candidates for the Mandan City Commission.

I'm Marnie Peel, a member of the League of Women Voters, and I will be the moderator.

This debate has been organized and the questions developed by the League of Women Voters, the Bismarck Tribune, the Bismarck Mandan Chamber, EDC, AARP of North Dakota, and Dakota Media Access.

There are four candidates running for two open seats on the Mandan City Commission, and all four of the candidates have joined us here today.

They are Heidi Bolavik, Kedden Bullinger, James Carroll, and Ryan Heinshawn.

Our purpose is to provide voters with information about the candidates and on their position and their positions on issues that affect the citizens of Mandan.

The candidates have not received these questions in advance, and viewers watching this debate live on April 23rd may submit questions by texting LWV BizMan152 to 2233 to join the session than text your question.

That's LWV Bizman152, and you text that to 2233.

The debate format is as follows.

Each candidate has 60 seconds to make an opening statement.

And then after the opening statements, the candidates will respond to the questions that I ask.

The first responses to questions will be rotated between the candidates, and each candidate will have 60 seconds to respond to each question.

After each candidate has responded to the question, there will be up to three additional minutes allowed for debate or additional comments from any or all candidates.

After the final question, each candidate will then have 60 seconds to make a closing statement.

Candidates are asked to comply with our time restrictions so we can get to as many questions as possible.

Our timer, which is over here, will let you know when your responses are down to 30 seconds, then 10 seconds, then stop.

For the debate segment, they will indicate when we're down to one minute and then stop.

So now let's get to our candidates.

Each of you will have 60 seconds to make an opening statement, and we'll just start at the beginning.

We'll start with Heidi.

If you just tell us a little bit about yourself, Heidi.

Good evening.

Thank you, first of all, uh, for putting this together to allow us to be up here and talk about ourselves a little bit more for candidates.

Um I think that's helpful for the community to know us.

Um I have been living in Mandan since the mid-90s, um, and I love our community.

I love the growth that has taken place, and I want to continue to see more changes and more growth.

I'm a firm believer that if you want to see change, you have to get off your couch and do something about it.

Um I do understand that there needs to be a good balance between changes for the city that's necessary and keeping financial burdens down for the taxpayers.

Um, and so I will make sure that I am listening to both sides of situations before I make my final decisions.

And I look forward to meeting many of the community members.

Thank you.

Thank you, Heidi.

Then we'll move on to James, 60 seconds.

Thank you.

Uh good evening.

I am James Carroll.

I'm a certified public accountant.

I was born and raised in Moffitt, North Dakota, which is about 35 miles away.

Uh my wife and I moved to Mandan in 2019.

Uh, we've planted roots here uh here in Mandan, and we now have two young kids.

I'm running for city commission here to focus on smart growth, financial um responsible financial spending and transparency.

I have experience across different sectors.

Um, I've worked for a regional engineering firm uh out of college.

I worked for the Bismarck Mandan Convention and Visitors Bureau, which focuses on tourism in the area.

And then now I currently work as the chief financial officer for this North Dakota State Auditor's Office.

Um, having worked in the private sector and the public sector, uh I know what it takes uh to get the job done.

I look forward to tonight's debate and showing why I'm an excellent candidate for the citizens of Mandan.

Thank you.

Thank you, James.

Kennan, we'll move on to you.

60 seconds.

Thank you.

Um I was born and raised in Mandan uh many years ago.

Um graduate of Mandan High School.

Um I uh went on to uh college at BC, that's how long ago I graduated.

It was BJC back then, but now BSC.

After that, I went up to UND and finished my education uh with a degree in biology and zoology.

So I've retired with uh a pretty strong government background, having worked with a lot of the local health departments and city health departments as well as some federal agencies like EPA and the Food and Drug Administration.

Thank you.

And Ryan, please, 60 seconds.