Politics & Government

DiCarlo and Hansen Set Date for Town Debate

Committeewoman Denice DiCarlo and challenger Jeff Hansen have hashed out the details for a Nov. 2 debate at RiverWinds Community Center.

With the heated debate of Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama fading fast into the rearview, West Deptford’s own township committee candidates are gearing up to take center stage at the town debate in less than a month.  

Late is better than never, as Committeewoman Denice Dicarlo and Jeff Hansen set a date and venue for the town committee debate. Both have decided on Nov. 2 at the RiverWinds Community Center as the official date and venue.

After meeting last Friday morning, the incumbent, DiCarlo, and her opponent, Hansen, say they are ready to move forward with plans for a township debate. DiCarlo and Hansen proposed minor changes to last year’s format and after meeting said they could work the rest of the details out via email.

“For the most part, we agreed upon everything,” says Hansen, after meeting with DiCarlo.

One of the changes will be—obviously—the venue. After hosting the debate last year at the high school auditorium, Hansen proposed to move the debate to RiverWinds. DiCarlo has agreed to moved the debate to RiverWinds, but intends to book the high school auditorium as a back-up venue. DiCarlo said in an email to Hansen that she doesn't want to force RiverWinds to lose out on money if a private resident intends to book the community center for a Nov 2 event.

Other changes include cutting the questions from the audience to six, in hopes of shortening the debate to only one hour. 

Details on who will moderate the debate are still to be determined. While Dicarlo is proposing the moderator be a member of the media, Hansen has suggested selecting one of several local residents. DiCarlo has currently proposed a member of West Deptford Patch to serve as the moderator to the debate.

Both DiCarlo and Hansen have agreed to forgo rebuttals by each candidate after the question has been posed.

Hansen’s main focus of this year’s debate is to stay on topic. He says the previous debate dragged out by off-topic comments and strayed away from the questions posed.   

“The focus on this campaign is the issues of this town,” says Hansen.

Hansen says with issues such as the attorney general’s investigation into the West Deptford Water and Sewer Department and the RiverWinds loan lawsuit, there is too much going on in West Deptford for politicians to constantly engage in personal attacks.

“I think last year went really well, I didn’t want to change much,” says DiCarlo.

DiCarlo hopes that through the moderator, the debate will stay on point. She is looking forward to the questions on how to make the town better and hearing the concerns of the people. She says the intention of the debate is to send out a positive message for the future of the West Deptford community.

Find out what's happening in West Deptfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here