Borst Promises Acceptable Budgets—

Ceremony Ushers New Administration Into Office

By John Voket

A family theme prevailed Saturday as newly elected First Selectman Joseph Borst and about two dozen other officials took the oath of office in a noon ceremony at Edmond Town Hall on a stage festooned with patriotic bunting and bright red poinsettias.

Town Clerk Debbie Aurelia took the oath standing between her two sons before swearing in her father, John, to his term as a council representative. Then, Mr Borst extended his appreciation to his wife, Barbara, his five children, ten grandchildren, and even his two great-grandchildren.

First District Councilman Gary Davis, Police Commissioner Bruce Walczak, and school board member David Nanavaty were among those joined at the podium by their children, while both Mr Borst and Republican Selectman Paul Mangiafico took their respective oaths as their proud wives looked on.

Besides welcoming remarks by Ms Aurelia to kick off the event, and interim jokes and introductions by outgoing Republican Selectman William Brimmer, Jr, Newtown resident Judge William Lavery, gave an invocation eliciting appreciative laughter from the crowd when thanking God for inspiring event organizer Mae Schmidle to hold the event inside instead of on the town hall steps where temperatures dipped into the teens.

Mr Borst capped off the ceremony with a six-minute acceptance speech during which he recognized newly elected officials along with many other town volunteers, service organizations, the town hall staff, and those who helped with the day’s festivities. He also thanked outgoing first selectman Herbert Rosenthal and selectman Joseph Bojnowski for their years of service to the community.

In his speech, Mr Borst, who turned 80 this year, thought back to his family’s move to Newtown 52 years ago.

“The year before we came was when Queen Street got paved,” Mr Borst recalled. “There were only about 5,400 people here then.”

The new first selectman said he spent the day last Friday attending a conference attended by several newly elected mayors and first selectmen during which he received a crash course on being the community’s lead elected official.

Mr Borst said he was looking forward to all the town’s many elected and appointed officials helping him guide the town over the next two years. He pledged to provide acceptable budgets, continue the development of a long-range strategic plan, and to solve the town’s traffic problems.

Last but not least, the new first selectman promised to complete the review of planned municipal offices at Fairfield Hills.

“This is the thing that apparently was the instigator of changing administrations, and it’s a problem that the people of Newtown want solved,” Mr Borst said to cheers and applause from the audience.

Calling attention to the departure of two of his three selectman’s office staff, Mr Borst supposed he would be the only person in the office answering phones Monday morning. He welcomed input from residents by phone or in-person.

“I don’t know all the answers. I know I’m probably going to be making some mistakes. But that’s the way you learn, by making mistakes,” Mr Borst said before inviting attendees to the ceremony after-party.