Franklin’s mayoral candidates will make their final joint appearance of the campaign during a free public forum Wednesday.

The forum, sponsored by The Tidewater News, will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Paul D. Camp Community College Workforce Development Center. City voters will go to the polls less than a week later n on Tuesday, May 6 n to cast their ballots.

Incumbent Mayor Jim Councill and challengers Ellis Crum and Greg McLemore will make brief opening statements before fielding questions submitted by voters to The Tidewater News. Steve Stewart, the newspaper’s publisher, will serve as moderator.

“We had some 80 questions from voters left over from an earlier forum with the Ward 1 and Ward 2 City Council candidates,” Stewart said. “We’ll comb through those, pick a dozen or so of the best questions and put them to the candidates.”

The earlier ward forum drew about 100 people. Stewart said the newspaper has reserved a larger meeting space in anticipation of a bigger crowd.