Voters talk with candidates for Johnson City commission, school board at meet-and-greet

With early voting just two weeks away, Johnson City voters got a chance to get to know who's on their ballot at a candidate meet-and-greet event Tuesday evening. Local candidates were stationed at tables inside the Langston Centre for the casual, drop-in meet-and-greet. All candidates for Johnson City Commission and Johnson City Board of Education were invited and nearly all were in attendance Tuesday. The event was hosted by the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce and League of Women Voters. Chamber President Bob Cantler said the event is part of the organization's efforts to educate and give voters an opportunity to learn about who's on their ballot. "We think it's important that the citizens have a chance to come out and meet one-on-one, or ask a question of each candidate to understand better who these candidates are," Cantler said. The chamber has put together some sort of candidate forum or questionnaire each election year, Cantler said. "We try to tweak it, in the past, we've done just surveys that are printed in the newspaper, or we've done a forum," he said. "So this was just another way we felt brought the citizens closer to the candidates." This election, Cantler said, is particularly significant because of the amount of candidates running. "I think having 10 candidates for two positions on the city commission is significant and it'll be intriguing to see who stands out or how the citizens view these candidates," he said. "The city commission, I think they've gone through a lot of challenges in the past few years. It'll be intriguing to see how that plays out through the election." As Cantler said, there are 10 candidates running for Johnson City Commission and five running for the Johnson City Board of Education. The city commission is a nonpartisan election, while the school board is a partisan race. All candidates for the Johnson City races are as follows, in the order they'll appear on the ballot: Johnson City Commission (two seats) Dave Adams Jenny Brock (incumbent) Sylvain Bruni Whitney Goetz (incumbent) Bud Hill Jr. Gary Kalogeros Tricia Korade Aaron Murphy Pete Paduch Bo Westmoreland Johnson City Board of Education (four seats) Tom Hager (Republican, incumbent) Kathy Hall (Republican, incumbent) Jonathan Kinnick (Republican, incumbent) Paula Treece (Republican, incumbent) Ryan Berkley (Democrat) Early voting begins Oct. 14 and will continue through Oct. 29. The deadline to register to vote in the November election is Oct. 5.The absentee ballot request deadline is Oct. 24. Election Day is Nov. 3. Residents can register to vote in person at their county elections office or online at govotetn.gov.