The Steamboat Pilot & Today will hold its annual candidate forum Wednesday, Oct. 8 at Library Hall in Steamboat Springs.

The event, sponsored by Altitude Realtors, will begin with a social half-hour at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Bud Werner Memorial Library, 1289 Lincoln Ave. in Steamboat Springs.

Candidates for four city council seats and two board of education seats will then answer questions beginning at 6 p.m. Refreshments will be provided at the event. The forum will be livestreamed on the Steamboat Pilot & Today’s Facebook page.

Questions will be asked by Steamboat Pilot & Today Editor Trevor Ballantyne, Craig Press Editor John Chalstrom and Steamboat Pilot & Today Lead Reporter Julia Coccaro.

If you or your organization would like to suggest questions or subject matter to cover with any or all of the candidates, please email those to Ballantyne at tballantyne@steamboatpilot.com.

Submitting a question does not guarantee it will be asked but will, hopefully, inform queries to our candidates.

The participating candidate list and the format for the discussion are listed below.

Candidates participating in the 2025 Steamboat Pilot Candidate Forum:

City Council District 1:
• Kelly Phillips
• Gail Garey

City Council District 2:
• Steve Muntean

City Council District 3:
• David Box
• John Agosta

City Council At-Large seat*:
• Robbie Shine
• Loryn Duke
• Joella West
• David Barnes

Steamboat Springs School District Board Candidates:
• Lauren Rennolds
• AJ Summers
• Kim Lemmer
• Jane Toothaker

* Three candidates — Kim Haggarty, Blythe Casner, Walter Magill — have dropped out of the race for the at-large city council seat and, while their names will appear on the November ballot, they will not be participating in the 2025 Steamboat Pilot Candidate Forum.

2025 Pilot Candidate Forum Format

• Candidates in contested races will each be given 2 minutes for an opening statement. Each candidate will then have up to 2 minutes each to answer three questions.
• Candidates will alternate in the order they answer the questions.
• Each candidate will be given 1 minute for a closing statement. Neither the candidates, nor anyone outside the Pilot editorial team, will receive the questions in advance, and there will be no questions from the audience.
• Candidates running in an uncontested race will receive 3 minutes for a statement to deliver to the audience.
• Timekeepers will be timing each response and using signals to alert candidates when their time is nearing the end. Candidates will be cut off once their time has passed.
• Yard signs posted outside of the venue will not be permitted. Inside the venue, each candidate may place one yard sign. We ask that you do not place any literature on chairs inside the venue; but instead allow attendees to pick up your literature from the main table.
• We would also encourage you all to focus your comments on the issues at hand in our community. With that in mind, we request that candidates refrain from negative comments about their opponents and instead focus on their own attributes, experience and policy positions.