College of Western Idaho trustee candidates will meet Tuesday night in a Nampa Chamber of Commerce forum.
The forum will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on CWI’s Nampa campus at 5500 Opportunity Drive, classroom 102E.
Nampa chamber President and CEO Mitch Minnette will ask the candidates questions from 7 to 8 p.m. Each candidate will have equal time to answer, and none of the candidates will receive the questions ahead of time.
From 8 to 8:30, attendees can mingle with the candidates and ask them questions.
No registration is required for the forum.
A recording will be posted shortly after the event, on the Nampa chamber website.
Four of CWI’s five trustee seats are on the ballot on Nov. 8, in an election that could swing the political balance of power at the state’s largest community college.
And while the four races are nonpartisan, the election has taken on partisan overtones. (Click here for an in-depth look at the elections.)
Four challengers — Alisha Hickman, Ryan Spoon, Jan Allan Zarr and Thad Butterworth — are running under a GOP banner, pledging to reduce property taxes and eliminate “agenda-driven” education at CWI.
The incumbents — Molly Lenty, Jim Reames and Annie Hightower — are running as a slate, along with first-time candidate Nicole Bradshaw. They are emphasizing maintaining CWI’s affordability, while developing campus sites in Nampa and Boise.
Here’s a lineup of the four races.
- Zone 1: Bradshaw, Hickman.
- Zone 2: Lenty; Gordon Simpson; Ryan Spoon.
- Zone 3: Reames; Zarr.
- Zone 4: Butterworth; Hightower.
The candidates represent specific geographic areas, but are elected across all of Ada and Canyon counties, the CWI taxing district.
Check back for coverage of Tuesday’s forum.
