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Needleman Wants to Keep Professional Approach in Essex Town Hall

Democrat Norman Needleman said he sees his role as first selectman as a public service and not as politics. Serving as a selectman starting in the 1990s, Needleman is looking toward his fourth term as the Essex town leader.

“A life of service is one worth living,” said Needleman, explaining that he prefers to serve on the local level.

As a business owner, Needleman said he approaches local government from more of a professional atmosphere than entering it as a bureaucracy.

“The role of the government should be to make sure that things are done properly without over-regulation,” he said.

That doesn’t mean he thinks local government doesn’t play a vital role.

“We need to be looking at those who are the most needy, including people who are not able to take care of themselves,” he said. “We are living in a scary time and a lot of people are ill-equipped.”

Needleman is the CEO and Founder of Tower Laboratories and currently employs 150 people in his factory located in Centerbrook Village. Prior to his election as first selectman, he served as an Essex selectman from 2003 to 2011, on the Essex Zoning Board of Appeals, and on the Essex Economic Development Committee.

Despite uncertainty in the funding Essex can expect from the state, which is still without a budget, Needleman doesn’t see the current state budget woes as being all doom and gloom for Essex.

“I don’t think that Essex is vulnerable to the state budget issues,” he says. “The undesignated fund is healthy at 13- to 13.5 percent. The town has seen budget surpluses every year since I have been in office. We have been able to add to pensions and a have a stable tax base, meaning we have been able to keep the effective tax rate low,” he said.

Credit rating firm Standard and Poor’s rates the town at AA+, the second-highest rank the firm assigns.

If re-elected, Needleman wants to continue to focus local government on customer service.

“We need to professionalize Town Hall without bureaucratizing,” he said.

An opposition to bureaucracy tempers his view for speedy moves to regionalization.

“I believe in voluntary regionalization within reason. There are no economic benefits from mandatory legislation. After all, more regionalization will mean more bureaucracy,” he said.

Overall, Needleman doesn’t see an economic storm coming to Essex any time soon.

“Essex is in a good place economically,” Needleman stated.

Needleman points to his 2016 run for State Senate with a tone of realization: He doesn’t believe that he would ever leave Essex as first selectman had he won because he really prefers serving on the local level.

His sons have joined his local business, enabling him to spend more time in Town Hall than in his factory. Needleman said, six years after first being elected first selectman, he still loves his job.