Commission candidates and incumbents gathered at the Board of Commissioners meeting room on Tuesday night, and voters got a chance to see what candidates and incumbents have to say on a number of issues.

The event organized by the Polk County Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Polk County Republican Party and sponsored by AdventHealth Redmond saw all but one of the candidates up on the ballot this year attend. District 2 candidate Ricky Clark was unable to attend due to recent health issues.

Candidates and incumbents at times got into terse exchanges with one another, with Commissioners Gary Martin, Hal Floyd and Linda Liles all defending their recent work on the board, while candidates like James Vines, Perry Barrett, Glenn Robinson and Jeff Hawkins raised concerns about priorities in spending, and the level of communication between the county and local residents.

The nearly two-hour event is found in the full video coverage below, in six parts:

Part 1 – Introductory statements

Part 2 – Question 1

Part 3 – Question 2

Part 4 – Question 3

Part 5 – Question 4

Part 6 – Closing Statements

Editor’s note: Additional coverage from the Candidate Forum, along with some additional candidate statements, will be made available online on Polktoday.com shortly. – KtE