The Washington-Beaufort County Board of Realtors is inviting the public to the first candidates’ forum of this election year.

Five candidates for the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners will participate in the forum to be held May 25 at the Turnage Theatre in downtown Washington. Republican candidates Gary Brinn, Derik Davis, Jerry Evans and Hood Richardson and Democratic candidate Robert Belcher have confirmed taking part in the forum. Democratic candidates Jerry Langley and Greg Satterthwaite are unable to attend. Four seats are at stake in the upcoming election. Belcher, Brinn, Langley and Richardson currently sit on the board.

Each candidate will be given a list a questions prior to the forum, but which questions each commissioner answers will be randomly chosen at the event. Afterward, the floor will be opened for questions from the public, according to organizers.

“I think it’s fair to give them the questions, but they don’t know which one they’re going to get,” said Board of Realtors President Bobby Clark.

Clark said the forum’s purpose is twofold: to touch on some current issues relating to real estate and to fulfill a community service.

“One is of the things that North Carolina Association of Realtors kind of wants us to do, is to have something that is sort of community-based,” Clark said. “It’s really to show the community what we’re doing for the community. We have an obligation to the community. Because the community supports us, we should support it as much as possible.”

The local Board of Realtors held a similar forum before the 2014 election as part of their regular meeting. This year, they decided to do the same, but the realtors will head over to the Turnage and the forum after the membership breakfast.

Debbie Williams, publicity manager for the WBCBR, said the event is also an opportunity for candidates to have their voices heard.

The candidates’ forum, from 9:30­ a.m. to 11 a.m. on May 25, is free and open to the public. The Turnage Theatre is located at 150 W. Main St., Washington.