Labor Day signals the end of summer and the kickoff of the fall campaign season. Most of Rowan County doesn’t have a dog in this fight, since this is a municipal election year. However, what happens in Rowan’s 10 towns and cities helps set the tone for the entire county. If you can’t vote in this year’s elections, urge your friends who can to pay attention and make wise choices.

Would you like to see more businesses in town? Municipal board votes on zoning, incentives and taxes could affect that. And, as important as national politics may be, President Trump can’t help you keep a fire station from being built next to your house, and neither could President Obama. Instead, the people who make these crucial local decisions live nearby, and you get to elect them in a little over two months.

The Salisbury City Council election is absolutely critical this year. Reducing the city’s crime rate and maximizing the Fibrant broadband network are two steps that could go a long way toward making Salisbury — and therefore Rowan — more attractive to industrial prospects and budding entrepreneurs.

More important, reducing crime would make the city safer for people young and old and increase feelings of security in all neighborhoods.

Those issues and more will come up at candidate forums, which can be eye-opening. Choosing five people to support from Salisbury’s 13 candidates could be much easier if you’ve seen them field questions side-by-side at a forum. Here are two such opportunities?

• Sept. 28, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., a City Council candidate forum will be held at Mission House, 120 Statesville Blvd.,  sponsored by Project Cover, The Vine Events, Salisbury Indivisible and Rowan Concerned Citizens.

• Oct. 23, starting at 6 p.m., another City Council forum will be held at Catawba College’s Crystal Lounge, sponsored by the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce, Catawba, the Salisbury Post and 103.3 FM WSAT radio.

The Post is asking readers for questions in advance of the forum that will be turned over to moderator David Whisenant, who will decide which ones to ask. Please email your questions to editor@salisburypost.com. You may also mail them to Editor, Salisbury Post, P.O. Box 4639, Salisbury, NC 28145.

And so the campaign begins. May the best public servants win.