League of Women Voters and Chamber to host Coral Springs candidates forum featuring ten people running for mayor and commission seats
Coral Springs, Florida – Coral Springs residents will have an opportunity to hear from the candidates seeking seats on the city commission and the mayor’s office before voters head to the polls in November.
The League of Women Voters of Broward County and the Coral Springs Coconut Creek Regional Chamber of Commerce are joining forces to host a virtual candidate forum on Thursday, Oct. 1. The event will run from 7 to 9 p.m. and will be livestreamed on the Facebook pages of both organizations.
Residents do not need to register to watch the forum. Anyone who cannot attend the livestream will also have another opportunity to see it, as the League of Women Voters plans to post a recording afterward.
The event comes just weeks before early voting begins on Oct. 19 and is intended to give voters an opportunity to hear directly from the people whose names will appear on the November ballot.
The forum will focus on three Coral Springs races scheduled for Nov. 3: mayor and City Commission seats 3 and 4. Ten candidates are competing across those three races.
The mayoral contest features incumbent Mayor Scott J. Brook and Commissioner Joshua Simmons. The election is also notable because the person elected mayor this year will serve a four-year term.
That is a change from previous Coral Springs mayoral elections. Voters approved the longer term in 2024, along with a measure establishing a 16-year lifetime limit on how long a person can serve on the city commission.
Commission Seat 2 will not be part of the contested races covered by the forum. Commissioner Shawn Michael Cerra is returning to the seat without opposition.
Seat 3 has attracted the largest field of candidates. Five people are competing for the commission position, which became vacant after Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer died April 1.
The candidates who qualified for the Seat 3 race are Metayer’s mother, Marly Metayer; William “Bill” Capplis; Kohy Holmes; Erick Nyatenya; and Terry Ann Williams Edden.
Metayer’s death has also been followed by a criminal case involving her husband, Stephen Bowen, who faces a premeditated murder charge in connection with her death.
Three candidates are seeking Commission Seat 4. They are Jeffrey “Jeff” Adelman, Tristan Celestin and Jennifer Levi.
With several contested races on the ballot, the Oct. 1 forum will give voters a chance to hear the candidates discuss the issues and their plans before making their decisions. Because the event is online, residents can watch from home without attending an in-person meeting.
The forum is scheduled ahead of the city’s early voting period, which begins Oct. 19 and continues through Nov. 1. Early voting hours will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 5. Voters who are already registered will then have several options for casting their ballots, including early voting and voting on Election Day.
The League of Women Voters and the Coral Springs Coconut Creek Regional Chamber of Commerce are encouraging residents to use the forum as an opportunity to become familiar with the candidates before voting begins.
For those unable to watch the two-hour event live, the recorded forum will provide another way to hear the candidates and review the information presented before the election.
The Nov. 3 election will therefore mark an important point for Coral Springs voters, with the mayoral race, the open Seat 3 contest and the Seat 4 race all appearing on the ballot.
