Chamber To Host Board Candidate Forum, Patch Will Cover it Live

Ankeny school district residents will have another opportunity Wednesday to help them decide which school board candidates to vote for in the Sept. 13 election.

The Ankeny Area Chamber of Commerce will host a candidate forum on Aug. 31. The forum will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the auditorium.

Ankeny Patch will host a live blog throughout the forum to provide minute-by-minute coverage of the event. Readers are allowed to contribute comments to the blog.

The include incumbents Leslie Petersen, Trent Murphy, Aaron Johnson and Andrew Martin. Challengers Dustin Graber, Brad Huss, Mike Rooney and Stephanie Jorgensen join them on the ballot. All were invited to the chamber’s forum.

Julie Cooper, executive director of the Ankeny Chamber, said the forum will kick off with questions submitted by chamber members, followed by questions submitted by the audience and community residents.

Candidate responses will be timed. Jay Byers, senior vice president of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, will moderate the forum.

Cooper said the forum is held each year there is an election. The chamber also holds forums for other elections including city council, county board of supervisors and state Senate and House of Representatives.

Parking for those who attend the forum will be available in lot A of the high school.