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Noreen Clough: Numbers Come Easy

Throughout her life, Noreen Clough watched her father, Jack Brereton, as he participated in town government and organizations in countless ways. His involvement in and love of East Haven was definitely passed down, so, given her interest in finance, budgeting, and following the money, Noreen chose to get involved with the Board of Finance (BOF).

“I felt if I wanted to run for office, that would be the perfect fit,” Noreen says.

She has served more than 10 years in total on the BOF under three different mayors: Hank Luzzi, April Capone, and Joseph Maturo, Jr. Professionally, Noreen is in her 19th year working for Bigelow Tea in Fairfield as an accounting manager, so she’s used to dealing with money and numbers every day.

“Certain things come easy; numbers come easy for me,” Noreen says.

With the town budget cycle for the 2018-’19 fiscal year quickly approaching, Noreen says she and other BOF members go through all the budgets for the various departments, listen to presentations, and make changes they feel are necessary whether those changes are implemented or not.

It gives her a sense of accomplishment once the budget process is complete. She says last year’s process was challenging because of the uncertainties of funding from the state, a concern the BOF didn’t have in past years.

Aside from working with the budget, Noreen says things like account transfers and bonding packages have to be approved by the BOF before they go before the Town Council. The BOF also has to approve the town’s capital budget (spending on long-term items like vehicles or buildings) before it goes to the Town Council.

Although the amount of dollars approved for capital improvements has increased over the past few years, Noreen wishes more could be done. She gave an example of the old high school on Tyler Street, which she attended.

“I wish we had the funds to make that a huge community center that everyone could use,” Noreen says, “That would be my ultimate wish. Unfortunately, that takes millions of dollars that we don’t have.”

The best part about being on the BOF for Noreen is meeting other people and seeing what’s going on around town.

“I’m a fourth generation East Havener, so I never considered moving out of East Haven,” Noreen says, “I like this town, I always want to know what’s going on.”

That’s one of the reasons she’s on the executive board of the Fall Festival. Calling it one of the best things that happens in town every year, Noreen loves being a part of the festival. One of her roles the weekend of the festival is taking care of the money, and she also helps with the budget.

Of all the things she’s been involved with in town, Noreen says the Fall Festival is the most enjoyable because of “seeing all the people enjoying the weekend and just seeing people come from all over town, people you don’t see all the time, and they all come out for all the things we have.”

The festival’s organizers try to cover all age groups with things for kids, teenagers, and adults, she notes.

Her civic involvement doesn’t stop there. She’s served as secretary on the library board, and says there used to be an East Haven Democratic Women’s club, for which she was treasurer. She’s had many roles in the Democratic Town Committee, and like her father, she’s been involved in the East Haven Historical Society.

Noreen says people in East Haven will do just about anything for each other. An example in her life is that she helped sell tickets for a fundraiser for Nick Vessicchio, the East Haven High School student who suffered severe injuries last year after a tree fell on him while he was mowing his family’s home.

The benefit dinner and fundraiser took place on Feb. 2, with proceeds going to the Vessicchio family to make the house accessible for him to come home. The accident hit close to home for Noreen because her husband, Michael, works with Vessicchio’s father.

“Selling tickets was not hard because the people want to help each other,” Noreen says, “I always say this: we’re still a blue collar town, and we always look out for each other and everybody works hard.”