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Mayoral hopefuls in forum spotlight

Aspen Times Staff Report

Aspen’s municipal campaign season gets its first public airing next week, with a mayoral candidates forum on April 13 at the Wheeler Opera House.

The forum, sponsored by the Aspen Valley Improvement Association, is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m., and is free and open to the public.

According to a statement from the association, the forum is meant to provide a chance for voters to “find out what future the 1999 mayoral candidates envision for the Aspen community.”



The candidates will speak about their campaign platforms, and there will be a question-and-answer session, according to the organizers.

The forum is being jointly sponsored by the Improvement Association; The Aspen Times and the Aspen Daily News; the city of Aspen; GrassRoots Television; KAJX-FM, and KSPN/KNFO radio stations.




The candidates also are getting a taste of how things work in City Hall this week, at a meeting today with city staffers.

City Manager Amy Margerum said she got the idea for the “briefing session” from employees of other cities who were attending municipal government conferences. This method of acquainting candidates with the workings of City Hall has never been tried in Aspen before, she said.

“We’re not going into any detail” about issues facing the city, she said. “We’re just giving them an overview, so they know where to go. There’s some basic information they all ask us for anyway.”

She said a letter inviting all candidates to the briefing went out with the “petition package” handed out by the city clerk’s office in March.