It was seen as a win for the city of Gainesville. Candidates in this year’s City Council races for Ward 2 (Emory Turner and Zack Thompson) and Ward 3 (Montine Whelchel Smith, Andrè Cheek, Lemuel Betancourt and Barbara Brooks) gathered for a forum at the Civic Center Thursday night to debate the issues on voters’ minds ahead of the Nov. 3 election. With two competitive races this year, the candidate forum, hosted by the Hall County Democratic Party, was a small measure of progress for a city where voter apathy has become pronounced, candidates said.