Election day is right around the corner, and one race people have their eye on is the mayoral race in Wisconsin Rapids.

With hundreds of recent layoffs in the community, people are concerned with job security.

Both Incumbent Mayor Mary Jo Carson and her challenger, Malcolm Bergan, say job cuts are obviously the biggest concern, and while they both agree this is a pressing issue for Wisconsin Rapids, they have different ideas on how they would address the problem if elected.

Bergan said, "I focus a lot on our business parks and on our industrial park. What we have to do is work with those places and, as I said, bring in the companies with the dozen jobs. You don't go with businesses with 500 jobs because those are none out there."

Mayor Carson believes just because Rapids has lost several jobs it doesn't make the Rapids community less appealing for bigger companies to come in and set up shop.

She said, "People know, number one, we have available labor force and they will be available in summer or fall. We also have people who know how to work, and we have people who are willing to retrain, so the calls keep coming in and we have one meeting we will talk about."

Bergan says the city is in need of an ambassador who is willing to bring in jobs from surrounding communities and says living through the job cuts as a union representative better qualifies him for the position.

Mayor Carson says two years of mayoral experience and her contacts with the Wisconsin Department of Commerce will allow her to better help with the community's economic development.

Carson and Bergan participated in a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters Tuesday evening where the public was able to submit questions.