2 candidate forums planned for Las Vegas Ward 5 election

The 11 candidates vying to represent Ward 5 on the Las Vegas City Council will appear in a pair of candidate forums before a special election this month.

The Las Vegas chapter of the NAACP, Urban Voice and the Clark County Black Caucus are holding candidate forums Saturday and March 21. for the people vying to become the council’s next member

The first forum is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Democracy Prep at the Agassi Campus, 1201 W. Lake Mead Blvd. The second one is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. March 21 at Victory Missionary Baptist Church on West Monroe Avenue in Las Vegas. Both forums are open to the public.

Curtis Coleman, Sheila Collins, Cedric Crear, Timothy V. Hicks, Shannon Hopkins, Walter Jones III, Patricia Messinger, Joe Mitchell, Harvey Munford, Shondra Summers-Armstrong and Randy Voyard are the candidates for the open council seat.

Former councilman Ricki Barlow — who has pleaded guilty to a felony for converting campaign dollars to personal use — stepped down Jan. 22.

Early voting in the special election will be available March 22-23. The special election is slated for March 27. The winner will serve out the remainder of Barlow’s vacated term, which runs to July 2019. The Ward 5 seat will be up for a full four-year term in the spring 2019 election.

The Las Vegas City Council opted to hold a special election rather than appoint a new council member amid calls from Ward 5 residents

Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @Journo_Jamie_ on Twitter.