NORWICH – The Evening Sun and YMCA are hosting a candidates debate at 6 p.m. tonight, in the Norwich YMCA's community room.

Parking for the event can be found across the street from the YMCA near the Evening Sun and Norwich Pennysaver building.

The mayoral candidates will take part in a two round debate and take questions from moderators. The candidates for Norwich Common Council will also make remarks between the two rounds.

The four City of Norwich mayoral candidates are: incumbent Christine Carnrike, Shawn Sastri, Jill Osterhout-Kraft, and former mayor Joseph P. Maiurano.

The forum will be moderated by Common Council President Matt Caldwell and Evening Sun Managing Editor Tyler Murphy.

Topics that will be discussed include business and quality of life improvements, fire services, updating residential home assessments, relocating city hall and sidewalk renovations, among others.

Candidates will each answer general questions in round one before they answer individual questions in round two.

Candidates will not take questions from the audience during the debate but voters are encouraged to offer feedback for potential questions by emailing The Evening Sun at news@evesun.com or commenting on our Facebook page.

Officials seeking contested seats on the common council will also attend and give brief introductions. Nancy H. Allaire and Scott M. Sutton are both seeking to represent Ward 3, while David M. Zieno and Jennifer W. Olds are both seeking to represent Ward 5.

A meet and greet with voters will follow the evening's debate, expected to end around 8 p.m.

Here are a few of the questions that many readers wanted to ask:

How can the city attract new business and help the ones already here?

Currently the city is considering selling the city hall building and moving the public offices to the third floor of the fire station. Do you think this is a good idea? What do you propose? 

For many years the city has struggled to keep a balanced budget within the fire department, especially with staffing costs. A recent state audit focused on this issue. What do you think needs to be done?

Citing a shortage of patrolman at the police department, the city recently decided it needed to offer more benefits to help attract veteran candidates and hire new staff. How would you balance public safety and costs?  

There is a growing issue in the City of Norwich in recent years with a growing pool of properties that have not been reassessed in many years. How should the city deal with it? How should the city proceed with a city-wide reassessment?

For several years the city has been seeking to increase accommodations for businesses and travelers within the city. Many travelers choose to stay in surrounding communities instead. What do you think is the most viable option to improve overnight accommodations in the city?

To hear candidates' possible responses to these questions and more, attend tonight's debate.