NIC trustee candidates speaking Monday in public forum

The candidates running to fill the North Idaho College Board of Trustees vacancy will have the opportunity to voice their opinions on various college issues during a candidates forum at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Lake Coeur d’Alene Room of NIC’s Edminster Student Union Building.

Five candidates are running for a six-year term on the board. Bill Brooks is a real estate agent. James Coleman is a civil engineer and serves on the NIC Foundation board of directors. Dennis Conners is director of the leadership formation program at Gonzaga University. Stan Hess retired as a bus driver in California before moving to Idaho in 2001. Ron Vieselmeyer is a marriage counselor and ordained minister.

The position on the board was vacated by Denny Hague, who chose not to run for re-election. Voting will be part of the Idaho general election Nov. 7.

Each candidate will have four minutes to give an opening statement. Attendees will receive a card to write down a question and a committee of people from each of the co-sponsoring organizations will give appropriate questions to the moderator, Sharla Chittick, NIC history instructor. The candidates will have one minute to respond. No closing statements will be given.

The event is cosponsored by the NIC Popcorn Forum, the Associated Students of NIC, the NIC Faculty Assembly and Staff Assembly, the NIC chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, the NIC chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce.

The forum is free and open to the public.