On October 4th, 2022, Valley TV hosted an All Candidates Forum for the Cache Creek municipal election.The forum was made up of Wendy Coomber, Annette Pittman, Santo Taleric, and John Ranta running for Mayor; David Dubois, Karla Hein, Jim Douglas, Kelly Debert, and Sue Peters running for Town Council; Carmen Ranta for Town Council and School Trustee and Crista Ross running for School Trustees.

There were over 100 community members in attendance for the forum and they had many questions.

Before the question session, the forum began with each candidate introducing themselves and outlining their platform. Incumbent Mayor Ranta discussed his success in making Cache Creek a healthier, more vibrant community and his plans to build upon that progress.

After the introductions, the forum moved to the question session were questions related to a variety of topics including taxes, infrastructure projects, community involvement, housing shortages, tourism development and protecting Cache Creek’s ecology, were asked and then answered by the respective candidates.

The conversations were passionate and each candidate responded thoughtfully with their respective solutions to the issues at hand.

The forum concluded with closing statements from each candidate summarizing their platforms once again before everyone present voted in the upcoming election. The audience was reminded of the importance of having their say in community affairs.

With this forum providing a great opportunity for Cache Creek voters to learn about each candidate running for office, it is sure to help improve civic engagement in Cache Creek’s municipal elections going forward.

Valley TV covers Gold Country in the interior of British Columbia.