Michael Pomes, who is running for a seat on the Lawrence school board, sets up his table as candidates for City Commission and the school board gathered Wednesday for a casual meet-and-greet event with voters at Free State High School, 4700 Overland Drive.

Local election season is off and running, but voters may still be on hiatus after a marathon presidential election.

A sparse crowd showed up Wednesday at Free State High School for the first of five candidate events sponsored by the Douglas County Voter Education Coalition.

Although the crowd was a bit light — about 50 people, with many of those being candidates, campaign volunteers or event organizers — those in attendance said they had heavy issues on their minds.

“I’m really concerned about what will happen to the social service agencies,” said Michele Dillon, an employee of the Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging. “I’m really concerned that seniors who have already given to the community will be missing out or will be put on the back burner.”

City commissioners are grappling with how to deal with expected budget shortfalls, and cuts to social service agencies have been suggested as a way to fill some budget gaps.

Members of the crowd also were interested in the Lawrence public school board race. Lawrence resident William O. Scott said that during these tough times, he was particularly interested in assessing the philosophies of school board candidates.

“In a general sense, I think it is important that the school board be independent of the school administration and remember their first responsibility is to serve the public,” Scott said.

Wednesday’s event was billed as a meet-and-greet event rather than a traditional forum where questions were asked of candidates. Candidates for the City Commission and school board gave brief introductory remarks and then staffed booths and handed out campaign literature.

The next four events by the Voter Education Coalition will be question-and-answer forums. Two joint forums featuring city and school candidates will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 and on March 18, with both events taking place at Lawrence City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets. Those forums will be taped and broadcast on the Sunflower Broadband cable system.

A school board-only forum will be at 7 p.m. on March 25 at the USD 497 District Office, 110 McDonald Drive. A City Commission forum will be at 7 p.m. March 30 at Lawrence High School, 1901 La.

Seven of the eight City Commission candidates attended the forum. Price Banks was unable to attend but sent a representative.

Six of the eight school board candidates attended. John Mitchell has announced he is dropping out of the race and did not attend. Tom Hartley also was not present to make a presentation.