The Chilkat Valley News and KHNS will host a live candidate forum at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, in the Chilkat Center. 

Moderators Will Steinfeld and Melinda Munson will question four candidates for two open positions on the assembly and five candidates for the two open seats on the planning commission. 

You also can tune into KHNS 102.3 in Haines or 91.9 in Skagway. 

Assembly candidates are Richard Clement, John Norton, Eben Sargent and Gabe Thomas. 

Planning commission candidates are Joe Parnell, Nathanael Reams, Kimberly Rosado, Rachel Saitzyk and Dan Schultz. 

After media questions, the public will have a limited opportunity to ask questions. 

You can find profiles of each of the candidates and their answers to questions you submitted to the Chilkat Valley News here.

The borough election will be Oct. 7, and profiles of the candidates were published in the Sept. 18 edition of the Chilkat Valley News. 

In addition to the candidates for office, Haines borough residents will also vote on a proposition that would increase the sales tax rate seasonally from April 1 through September 1. Revenue from the increase would go toward the school as well as services provided in the townsite service area. The sales tax would be reduced in the townsite from Oct. 1 through March 31, and groceries would be exempted from sales tax during those months. 

The deadline to register to vote was Sept. 7. Voter registration status can be checked at voterregistration.alaska.gov. 

Rashah McChesney is a multimedia journalist and editor who has reported and edited newsrooms from the Deep South to the Midwest to Alaska. For the past decade, she has worked in collaborative news as the...