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A Tireless Champion

In 2018, our first selectman, Carl P. Fortuna, Jr., and I will have known each other and been friends for 50 years. For those interested in the math, Carl and I have been in each other’s lives since we were five.

Carl is a tireless champion for our town; he has been the man with the plan since first being elected in 2011 and led our community with community values—our government is smaller, smarter, and more efficient, and Carl will continue to guide us down this path.

These are serious times that require individuals of character to lead with vision. Whether preparing our town to navigate the fiscal meltdown in Hartford for budgeting purposes or negotiating with labor unions for town employee health and retirement benefits that each of us having been living with for years in the private sector, Carl has always kept our community out in front of these 21st-century realities and we, as taxpayers, have been the beneficiaries of his professional management style.

Carl addresses the small day-to-day issues (not only does he take your call, he meets you in your yard) and big issues, those that have changed and will change our community forever—The Preserve, Mariners Way, and additional elderly housing come to mind—all are approached with the same vigor and passion.

Carl will continue to fill the office of first selectman with honor to himself and a credit to the place we call home. Along with Selectman Scott Giegerich and Treasurer Bob Fish, FGF 2017 deserves your readers’ votes; no, the team has earned their votes.

Chris Rixon

Old Saybrook