First Selectmen Candidates Chat, Spar At Town Hall Debate

By John Voket

Four First Selectman candidates took to the stage at Edmond Town Hall Wednesday night in front of 200-plus attendees for a debate sponsored by The Newtown Bee. During opening remarks, Editor Curtiss Clark referred to a newspaper editorial of two years ago taking local political parties to task for not tendering any challengers for most of the ballot positions in the 2005 election.

“This year we are blessed with candidates and plenty of choices,” Mr Clark said. “There are contests up and down the ballot this year.”

Mr Clark pointed out that while the local Democrats and Republicans both had representative candidates on the stage, the newly forming Independent Party of Newtown (IPN) did not. They have, however, endorsed Republican Joseph Borst. Democrat incumbent Herb Rosenthal, and petitioning candidates Louis Jay Mattegat and Christian Qualey, Jr, were in attendance.

Board of Selectmen candidates Paul Mangiafico and Joseph Bojnowski were offered opportunities to make some introductory statements. Mr Mangiafico, a Republican, produced a magic wand that was given to him a long time ago by a former supervisor.

The candidate said he was told the solutions to his problems would not come from waving a magic wand. Mr Mangiafico said, today, the issues facing Newtown would not be solved with a magic wand.

“I make very few promises,” he said. “I will do the very best I can for all the people in town.”

Mr Bojnowski, the Democratic selectman candidate, said he decided to pursue another term because he had observed the work of First Selectman Herb Rosenthal.

“There are a lot of challenges and we have a complex town here,” Mr Bojnowski said. “And he deserves my support…he deserves our support.”

Mr Bojnowski then ticked off a list of accomplishments affected by the current administration, including supporting the lion’s share of the budget for education, escalating tax-relief programs for seniors and others in town, two bond rating upgrades, and the preservation of open space to block residential development.

In opening statements, Mr Mattegat said he had a lot of concerns including the amount of homes for sale, the amount of local foreclosures, and the number of seniors who are being forced from town because of financial challenges.

“We’ve got to get control of the money. We’ve spent a tremendous amount of money,” Mr Mattegat said. “It’s great for our bond ratings, but somebody has to pay that money back.”

Mr Borst spent much of his time describing why he originally moved to town and became involved in community service more than 30 years ago. He detailed his experiences on various local boards and commissions, and spoke briefly about his family, which has lived in town for 52 years.

“I’m here because I need your help,” Mr Borst said. “We must straighten out what is going on in Newtown. There has been a loss of connectivity between the government and the voters of Newtown.”

Mr Rosenthal said he was most challenged, and motivated to seek another term, as the community’s top official because of the complexities the position offered.

“What I am really most proud of are the people I have worked with for the past ten years,” Mr Rosenthal said. “They volunteer so much of their time to make Newtown the great community it is.”

Mr Rosenthal complimented many individuals who put political interests aside to do what is best for Newtown. He then took a few moments to thank and recognize Mr Borst for the nearly four decades of public service he has offered to the community.

Mr Qualey came to the podium lamenting that he lost his reading glasses in the parking lot. The petitioner recognized the many community leaders who have served the town in the past.

He pointed out the frustrations felt by people locally, and nationally, because of the lack of engagement they feel with government in general. Then he filled out the rest of his allotted time, and more, sharing a speech penned by William Jennings Bryant with the audience.

After being reminded he was over his time limit, Mr Qualey apologized and returned to his seat on stage without completing his statement.

The opening question was related to the candidates’ thoughts and vision regarding the future of the community and Fairfield Hills.

Mr Mattegat said he would like to see mixed trail uses for horses and hikers, and asserted a need for long-term planning with fiscal conservancy, which he said “needs to begin right now.”

Mr Borst said the campus and the town faced similar challenges, and that he has been pushing for two years for a strategic long-range plan. The councilman said he was happy to see the current administration was moving that program forward, but countered that Fairfield Hills seems to be developing without an organized plan.

Noting his volunteer work on early-stage Fairfield Hills committees, Mr Borst said “We wanted commercial development at Fairfield Hills sufficient to make it a revenue neutral situation.”

Mr Rosenthal reminded the audience that Mr Borst had voted as a council member to support the master plan for the town-owned campus.

“The general theme has been the same since Joe served on the state task force with Julia Wasserman in the late 90s,” Mr Rosenthal said. “I do see Fairfield Hills as the heart of the community and the gem we will protect.”

Mr Rosenthal described Fairfield Hills as one of the most planned public developments in the state, and took individuals to task for wanting to quickly change that plan because they came forward with an new idea.

“I’ve appointed at least ten ad-hoc planning committees,” Mr Rosenthal said, adding that the initiation of a long-range planning committee puts Newtown among only several state communities with such a panel.

Mr Qualey said he had issues when “government sticks its hand in commercial real estate.”

“It lends itself to the possibility of corruption,” Mr Qualey said. “There needs to be a final approval process to make sure there is no violation of that.”

Over the course of the debate, candidates entertained questions and offered thoughts on separating the town and education budgets, reducing taxes, the role of the public in determining future uses at Fairfield Hills, a proposal to reallocate approved funds from a municipal office project to demolishing existing buildings at the campus, traffic problems in town, and how the candidates will help the community better face the increasing incidents of underage drinking and substance abuse.

In turn, Messrs Rosenthal, Qualey, Borst, and Mattegat moved their microphones among themselves, occasionally clarifying points raised by others, before taking the opportunity to ask each other questions. (The Newtown Bee will report the details of many individual answers in first selectman candidate profiles scheduled to run in next week’s edition. )

As the debate concluded, many audience members filed out chatting about the unique opportunity the debate provided. Following the debate, Board of Finance Chairman John Kortze commented on what a pleasure it was to be able to attend such an event in the renovated town hall theater.

“This was a good old-fashioned community event and it was a great service to the community to be able to have it here,” Mr Kortze said.