A week before the August 11 runoff election, the two men hoping to become Macon-Bibb County’s mayor will meet in a live debate.

Tuesday evening, Cliffard Whitby and Lester Miller will answer questions for an hour in the mayoral debate moderated by news anchor Frank Malloy and hosted by 13WMAZ and the Center for Collaborative Journalism.

The debate will be livestreamed at 13wmaz.com beginning at 7 p.m. Tuesday and will be rebroadcast Wednesday at 5 p.m. on 13WMAZ.

During this election season, 13WMAZ has been working with its CCJ partners – The Telegraph and Georgia Public Broadcasting –  in identifying the top issues facing voters.

In February, the CCJ was involved in the television station’s Listening Labs where public input was gathered at nine different locations across the county.

Getting the public’s questions answered is a priority for the debate, 13WMAZ news director Lorra Lynch-Jones said.

The collaboration also held joint interviews in March with all of the mayoral and county commission candidates based on issues raised at the Listening Labs.

A team of journalists representing the individual news organization has come up with a list of questions for the mayoral candidates, who will be permitted to rebut their opponent’s answers when necessary.

Contact Civic Reporting Senior Fellow Liz Fabian at 478-301-2976 or [email protected].