Three of the five Hall County commission candidates invited to a forum put on by the Hall County Republican Party were no-shows Saturday, but the program went on as scheduled.

District 1 Commission candidate Craig Lutz and District 3 candidate Jones Cottrell used their allotted 10 minutes to speak on their qualifications and goals if elected to serve the South Hall and North Hall districts, respectively.

An audience of about 30 people at the Gainesville Elks Club also heard from Hall County School Board at-large candidates Richard Higgins and Bill Thompson.

But local GOP chairman Jim Pilgrim didn’t let the absence of incumbent District 1 Commissioner Bobby Banks, District 1 candidate Kimbo Senter and District 3 candidate Scott Gibbs go unmentioned.

Pilgrim gave a pass to Gibbs, who had out-of-town plans that involved airline tickets that had already been purchased.

But he expressed disappointment that Senter and Banks declined to participate in the forum.

“I just think it’s important that when we have Republicans running for office they meet the public, and if they’re invited to something, they come.” Pilgrim said.

Reached the previous day, Banks said he was not going because he had nothing to gain from it.

“I’m not going because I don’t have to,” Banks said.

The commissioner said after he initially agreed to participate, the GOP changed the format of the event from a meet-and-greet to a debate, pointing to e-mails sent out by the party promoting the event.

Pilgrim acknowledged that e-mails used the word “debate,” but said the event was always intended to be a forum, not a debate.

Banks also believed that the audience would be packed with Lutz supporters.

“I’m just not going into a hostile environment if I don’t have to,” Banks said Friday. “It will only hurt me if I go.”

Reached Friday, Senter said he had better things to do on Saturday morning — namely, knock on doors.

He also said he believed the meeting would be attended by few people from South Hall, the voters he is courting in the race.

“There’s no voters at the forum,” Senter said. “They’re good folks, but they’re just no voters there. And I just feel door-to-door for me is where I need to be (Saturday).”

Both Senter and Banks said they were not afraid of engaging in a debate, if it was run by the rules and with a moderator.

Gibbs, in an e-mail response to The Times, said he would be out of town until today, but would have not missed the event “if we had not already had a debate in Clermont.”

“Friends from Wisconsin already booked their tickets,” Gibbs said.

Prior to Saturday’s forum, Pilgrim said the local GOP was simply providing candidates with a forum to speak to the public, a forum he noted would be covered by local news media.

“That’s all we’re doing, is providing a catalyst for them to get up and speak, and provide their views,” Pilgrim said. “And if they don’t want to attend, we’ll let the public decide the reasons why.”

As for the candidates who did attend, they had this to say:

Incumbent school board member Higgins said dealing with the budget in a down economy would continue to be the biggest job.

“Our motto has been ‘do more with less’,” Higgins said, noting that the millage rate has not been raised and the school board ended with a balance of some $10 million, while many other systems are in the red. “We try to be prudent with the taxpayers dollars, plus give you a quality product.”

Thompson, who recently retired as principal of Chestatee High School after 32 in the Hall County schools, touted his background knowledge of the system.

“I hope to bring to our (school) board and inside view from someone who has been in the system for a long time and been through a lot of changes,” Thompson said.

Thompson said it was important the emphasis be placed on the students, not the teachers.

“Sometimes it becomes more about the teachers than the kids,” he said.

Lutz, who is running against Banks and Senter for the South Hall District 1 commission seat, said improving ethics, prioritizing spending, working on transportation needs, fixing sewer rates, working on water rates with the city of Gainesville and keeping the commission’s promises to the people were his priorities for the county.

“I’m going to make decisions based on what’s best for the whole county, not just part of it.” Lutz said. “Overall I believe it’s my job to represent you, not to tell you that your issue is not my problem.”

Cottrell, who is running against Gibbs for the North Hall District 3 seat, said he was a fiscal conservative.

“We have to look hard at what we’re doing in the county from a fiscal standpoint,” Cottrell said. “How are we going to maintain our budget? How are we going to operate each of our departments as efficiently as possible?”

“We don’t know what’s going to happen in the next few years, but we can certainly respond to them quickly, look at them hard and make those tough decisions in advance, before they reach our doorstep.”