Residents can grill candidates, gobble cookies at forum

If being an informed voter isn't incentive enough, maybe cookies will lure you.

The Marco Island Eagle will host a forum for Marco Island City Council hopefuls Monday, Feb. 13, and there will be food.

Residents can meet seat-seekers Joe Batte, Heyward Boyce, Ted Forcht, Charles Lee Kiester, Rob Popoff, Joseph W. Simons and Steve Stefanides at 6:30 p.m. Each candidate will have four minutes to address key issues and stances before answering questions through moderator Cheryl Ferrara, editor and publisher of the Eagle.

Questions should be addressed to specific candidates.

Besides aiding voters, Keister said the forum can help candidates get a feel for their constituency and election opponents.

"First of all, it gives the candidates the opportunity to interact with the audience," Kiester said. "(It) also allows candidates to listen to each other's views and positions on the issues at hand and introduces candidates to each other's backgrounds."

The Collier County Supervisor of Elections Office will mail ballots Wednesday, Feb. 22, to all registered voters for the March 14 election. All ballots must be returned to the office by March 14.

To vote, Marco Island residents must register by Monday, Feb. 13. Registered Florida voters who have recently relocated to Marco may participate in the election if the Supervisor of Elections Office receives the appropriate information before 7 p.m.

March 14.

New Marco residents who have relocated from another address in Collier County must notify the Supervisor of Elections Office and include their birth date. Residents who have recently relocated to Marco Island from another Florida county must fill out a new voter-registration application form.

Voter-registration application forms are available at the Supervisor of Elections Office at the Collier County Government Center, 3301 U.S. 41 E., Naples. Residents may pick up applications at the government satellite office at 1040 Winterberry Drive, driver's license offices, libraries, state agencies that provide public assistance or the Supervisor of Elections Office's Web site, www.CollierVotes.com.

To get voter information, candidate literature and, of course, the cookies, coffee and soft drinks, prospective voters should show up at the Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 13. The forum should be finished by 9 p.m.

The resort is at 560 S. Collier Blvd.