HERMANN – Brief and to the point. That’s the type of answers candidates will have to give tonight at the Showboat Theater in the forum sponsored by the Hermann Area Chamber of Commerce.

Those running for Hermann city government offices and three seats on the Gasconade County R-1 School District Board of Directors will be facing a tight time line as the Chamber tries to keep the forum to about an hour. Mayor Bruce Cox is being challenged by Alderman Jim Schirmer while Ward 1 Alderman Dolores Grannemann is facing a challenge by Susan Lenger, the former Ward 1 alderman ousted two years ago by Grannemann.

In the R-1 contest on the April 7 General Municipal Elections ballot, four candidates are seeking the three seats to be filled for another 3-year term — incumbent Amy Grannemann and newcomers Chad Walton, Rachel Brinker and Dawn Grosse. Walton currently is a Ward 2 alderman in Hermann, Brinker is a businesswoman and a member of the Gasconade County Enhanced-911 Board of Directors and Grosse recently retired after a long tenure as the R-1 District’s social worker.

The forum is set for 7 p.m.

Former state legislator Justin Alferman will be the moderator putting questions to the candidate while Chamber President Colleen Murphy will be the timekeeper. Each candidate will have two minutes for an opening statement. Two questions will be asked by Alferman to each candidate in the respective races. The candidates will have one minute to respond to each question. After the questions from Alferman, each candidate will have one minute for a closing statement.

At that point, a few questions will be taken from members of the audience with the questioners saying to which race they are directing the questions. The candidates will have one minute to respond to the audience members’ questions. In a memo to the candidates, Chamber Executive Director Melissa Lensing noted that the goal is to keep the candidate forum to about an hour in length.