Letters of Endorsement

To the Editor:

I am writing in support of Jim Gaston for Board of Selectmen. Jim Gaston has served Newtown well in more ways than you can imagine. He is a true-tested leader and has succeeded at moving our town forward at many levels in a smart and personable manner.

I’ve known Jim Gaston for almost 20 years. I first met him on the Borough’s Board of Burgesses. After only a few years we promoted him to senior burgess and for the past five years he has been the warden. Through thoughtful and frugal analysis he reduced the mill rate to record low levels. I was also warden (executive officer of the borough) for 18 years; there are daily duties and pressures that must be addressed. Jim knows how to get things done. He solved the Gordian Knot problem and created the Historic District with his idea to first only include the people that wanted to be in it. Ten years later, due to insistent requests from others to join, the Historic District includes approximately 85 percent of the original proposed properties. Jim Gaston authored the 1996 Historic District regulations and shepherded the 2006 expansion through the complicated yearlong state process. It has been an effective preservation tool for the Borough and Newtown.

Jim Gaston led the battle to protect the Main Street historic sugar maple tree line when open trenching sewer lines were laid down the tree line. He wrote our tree ordinance. Result, at the same costs of open trenching the lines, we bored under the tree roots, and the problem was solved.

Jim was also instrumental in creating the Health District. The town and borough originated the district and brought back state dollars as incentive. There were complex issues that needed to be resolved. He helped resolve them with personable and bipartisan support. He wrote the original town-borough operational structure regulations for the district.

Jim has served Newtown well over the past ten years on the Board of Finance. He has done an effective job balancing the needs of the town and schools with the costs to the taxpayer. He is a friend of education, wanting the return of Blue Ribbon schools, and demanding efficiency and fiscal discipline at all parts of government. He insists on a disciplined debt service cap that has saved Newtown millions of dollars with two increases in our bond ratings. As town selectman, I know Jim will continue to squeeze every penny out of every dollar as he has done at the borough level.

I have heard his talk on Return to Reason. As a lifelong Newtown resident, and as a Glover (one of the founding families of Newtown), I couldn’t agree more. Stay focused on the issues and solve problems together, not against each other! Jim Gaston as town selectman will do just that, as he has for more than 20 years.

(P.S. I’m a Republican…and I support Pat Llodra for first selectman)

Thank you.

Joan Glover Crick

7 Glover Avenue, Newtown                                   September 16, 2011