Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Candidates for the Hopewell Township Committee and the Hopewell Valley Regional School District Board of Education will make their cases for election at a pair of back-to-back candidate forums next week.
The Hopewell Valley League of Women Voters is sponsoring the candidate forums – one for the school board candidates on Oct. 18 and one for the township committee candidates on Oct. 19. Both sessions start at 7:30 p.m., and are open to the public.
Four candidates are vying for three seats on the school board – incumbent school board members Alyce Murray and Adam Sawicki, and newcomers Darius Matthews and Sarah Tracy. School board member Roy Dollard is not seeking re-election.
All have been invited to appear at the Oct. 18 forum, which is being held at the Hopewell Valley Central High School’s television production studio at the high school at 259 Pennington-Titusville Road, Pennington.
In the township committee election, four candidates are seeking election to two seats currently held by township committeeman Kevin Kuchinski and township committeewoman Vanessa Sandom.
On the Democratic Party ticket, Kuchinski – who is serving as mayor this year – is running with Michael Ruger. Sandom is not seeking another term.
The Republican Party is fielding the ticket of Luis Nicolao and Philip Volpe for the two township committee seats.
All have been invited to take part in the Oct. 19 candidates forum, which will be held in the auditorium at the Hopewell Township Municipal Building at 201 Washington Crossing-Pennington Road.
The two candidate forums will be moderated by Nicole Plett of the Lawrence chapter of the League of Women Voters.
At each forum, candidates will open with a two-minute opening statement.
Next, they will be asked a series of questions that have been prepared by the Hopewell Valley League of Women Voters. During a second round of questioning, each candidate may pose a question to one other candidate.
Once the round of questioning have been completed, each candidate will be given one minute for a closing statement.
