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10/17/2017 12:00 AMAccording to Republican Carolyn Linn, the past two years as a selectman in Chester has been a wonderful experience and a great apprenticeship that has led her to run for first selectman. Her background in both the corporate world and as a local small business owner has her looking to do deep dives into areas that concern her in Chester.
Regionalization isn’t a bad word for Linn.
“How does regionalization fit into the overall goals of Chester? How does that get Chester self-sustaining and enhance the lifestyle of those individuals who love living in Chester and those who want to come into Chester to raise families and start businesses?” Linn asks.
She believes that there are opportunities to look into immediately including budget line items and how the money gets spent. She questions if the town is being efficient enough and wants to know where money is being spent effectively and where it no longer make sense.
One of the successful results of regionalization that Linn see is the handling of Chester’s bulk waste management costs. By working with Deep River, the two towns managed to close the gap and help residents of Chester from a financial standpoint and helped Deep River to help streamline its processes.
“One of most important things was that there was no interruption to Chester residents. It proves that things can be done without impacting residents’ expectations of services,” Linn stated.
Linn believes Chester is faced with challenging times.
“It is all in how you look at the issues that will truly make the difference with success going forward. You can look at it as, ‘Why is the state doing this to us?’ and ‘Why do we have to make sacrifices?’ or see it as an opportunity to really prepare ourselves for future growth and needs,” she said.
For the recently tabled library and North Quarter Park project, Linn feels that a capital expenditure right now of that magnitude is not prudent.
“North Quarter Park is wrapped up under this umbrella. There are things that can be done initially to move them along into park revitalization–such as drainage issue,” she said, noting that she thinks the drainage should be a state issue.
She questions how the space is currently being used and sees opportunities to close gaps that the library project were trying to solve. She also isn’t sure that all of the right questions have been asked. She would personally love to see something done with the park sooner than later, but issues must be resolved first.
“Things don’t happen overnight. There is a need to look at the community in totality and how the quality of life for everyone can be raised. How can we move forward when it comes to affordable housing? Zoning laws and being able to utilize space effectively are a concern for all of the town,” Linn said.
Linn believes that her background helps her to understand the town budget and where focus needs to be paid at budget time and throughout the entire year.
“This role takes strong project management skills,” she said. “It is essential to recognize people who volunteer because of passion for town and how to effectively work with them and help them stay motivated and committed to the goal.”
Linn sees Chester needing to be more independent from the state.
“I am hopeful that the both houses will come together and put together a balanced budget, but it’s realistic that there will be impacts to local municipalities,” she said. “It is time to start thinking creatively today on how to close the immediate gaps and move forward to eliminate dependence on state funding. The only way to survive is to think about how to survive on our own. It won’t happen overnight, but it does need planning.”
Fiscal independence is needed and will take tough conversations, Linn said, but she doesn’t want to see people throwing up their hands because it is difficult. She believes it will be an opportunity for amazing things in the future.