Ten out of 15 candidates for Chilton County Commission attended last night’s political forum held at the Chilton County Courthouse.

Approximately 80 people attended the forum, including the candidates who were present. Dr. Jim Seroka, profession of political science at Auburn University, served as the moderator.

“I think it’s really an important job, and I want to hear what they have to say,” Norma Martin said when asked why she chose to attend the forum.

“It’s important to all the taxpayers.”

Tom Brown was another guest in the audience with questions he hoped would be addressed in the forum.

“The county needs a lot of improvements, especially with roads,” he said, “and we really don’t have a lot of revenue. Maybe somebody will have an answer on how we can try and get more revenue.”

The questions posed to the candidates covered the issues of land management planning, home rule, wet/dry, county funding, county problems, the courthouse facility, homeland security, inmate medical care, industry, commissioner qualifications, fire departments, road/bridge maintenance, budget waste, education, water/sewer, and county revenue.

There were five Democrats and five Republicans present, making Seroka’s job as moderator slightly easier than if there had been an uneven number of candidates.

The candidates’ names were drawn from a fishbowl, and then each question was selected at random.

All responses were timed.