Election forum for mayoral and city council candidates in Crisfield

Princess Anne, Md. – Local elections in Crisfield are coming up and on Tuesday, the Crisfield Area Chamber of Commerce will hold an election forum beginning at 6 p.m. at the Crisfield High School Auditorium where residents can meet the candidates and learn where they stand.

Crisfield’s June 17 election will have residents choose between five candidates for the three city council seats up for grabs and between three candidates for mayor, including incumbent Mayor Darlene Taylor.

CACC Executive Director Heather Ross says every vote matters to vote for people they think best represents them. “It’s really important that people go out and vote, not just talk about it, but actually get out there June 17th,” she said.

Mark Konapelsky is a Code Enforcement officer for Somerset County and is running for city council. He has served on the city council before and said elections like these are important because they are often the first step in resolving local issues.

“The important thing in my mind is you have to get out and vote, because we always have such low turnouts down here and people complain about stuff, but they need to do that initial step of actually going out and voting,” he said.

Billie Jo Chandler currently serves on the CACC board and is running for mayor. She said infrastructure will be a top-of-mind issue going forward and knows there will be several opinions from residents as well as candidates about how best to go about the issue.

“I’m telling everyone, ‘if you don’t get out and vote, you have no reason to complain,'” Chandler said. “It’s a very, very important election.”

Both Konapelsky and Chandler said they anticipate a good turnout at Tuesday’s forum and encouraged everyone to come, ask questions and learn directly from candidates.

WMDT reached out to their opponents as well, but they were not able to provide comment by publication.