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10/11/2017 08:00 AMSaying she has experience working with people in a wide variety of organizations and professions, from “accounting to architecture,” Democrat Christine Goupil said her professional experience gives her excellent preparation for serving as Clinton’s first selectman.
Goupil is a current member of the town’s Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC). She also chairs the commission’s Unilever Ad-Hoc Committee. According to the biography on her website, christinegoupil2017.com, Goupil has worked for The New York Botanical Garden, KPMG, ADSHEL/Clear Channel Communications, and The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment.
Goupil noted she has “worked to revitalize places around the world.” As an example, she pointed to her work in North Upton, a city in England where she worked on a comprehensive plan to make the city “totally sustainable.”
“We need to bring project management to town hall,” Goupil said. “Projects in town hall languish, we need to bring things forward.”
In addition to a lack of organization, Goupil believes there’s a partisan divide affecting efficiency in Clinton.
“I absolutely see this as an issue,” she said. “It’s nothing new, we just need to find a way to work together.”
Goupil said she experienced this partisan divide when she was working on the Town Plan of Conservation and Development. Goupil said when she met with different groups and boards, the reception varied from cold to warm.
“I’ve worked with Republicans, Democrats, and independents,” Goupil said.
Goupil was one of seven PZC members who attended a prohibited meeting of the commission that was called without providing public notice as required by the state’s open meeting laws. The possibility that open applications and commission business could have been discussed at that meeting was raised in a developer’s recent challenge and overturn of the PZC denial of a new CVS in the town center.
Goupil said the meeting was just friends getting together and that “these allegations [that CVS was discussed] were made by people not there.”
“I specifically said I wouldn’t discuss commission business when I got to the meeting,” Goupil said, noting that she has attended meetings and classes on how to conduct meetings correctly and legally. “My campaign has been about transparency.”
Goupil said that the way to manage increasing taxes isn’t just to slash spending—”We need to support our resources”—but to pursue economic development in Clinton.
“The only way to go to do it is through economic development,” Goupil said. “The train station is a great opportunity. The state has indicated that transit-oriented development is the way we grow our community.
“We need a full-time town planner to help stimulate growth,” Goupil continued. “We need to develop Unilever, old Morgan, and the brown sites in town are opportunities.”
Goupil said in addition to filling the big gaps in town, Clinton needs to “retain small businesses.”
“We’ve never marketed Clinton as a whole,” Goupil said. “I believe there’s support from all sides looking for a positive outlook and someone who can bring us all together.”
Goupil said her favorite part of Clinton is the people, highlighting the charities such as Family Helping Families, the Clinton Sailing Club started by her husband Alan Felgate, and the churches in town as examples of Clinton’s spirit.
“We moved to Clinton, saw good infrastructure and opportunity,” Goupil said. “I’ve never been in such a welcoming community.”