My vision is clear: We need to protect what we have and proactively secure our future. 

While that is easy to say, it will take strong and effective leadership to accomplish. We cannot accept the status quo. We cannot continue to move incrementally into the future. We need clear plans, effective execution of those plans and a sense of urgency. 

Yes, we are a small town. But our challenges and opportunities are significant. 

• We simply are not where we need to be and we lag greatly behind surrounding communities in terms of assertive leadership and making real progress on our available opportunities. 

• In 2012, Redding had the distinction of being recognized as the “Best Small Town” in all of Connecticut. We need to have a clear goal of re-establishing Redding’s reputation as one of the most desirable small towns in our state for all the right reasons. 

• We need to protect the unique rural character of our town

• We need the right community and professional resources to develop a comprehensive master plan for Gilbert & Bennett. 

• We need to understand why we are seeing so much turnover in our educational leadership and correct the course immediately to continuously drive excellence in Redding’s schools. 

• We need an effective Economic Development Committee (EDC) to assist with thoughtfully developing Gilbert & Bennett and evaluating how we realize the true potential of Georgetown and West Redding. This has been discussed for years, and our neighboring towns have effective EDC’s in place. We still do not. 

• We need to expand our tax base so that the increasing costs of running our town is no longer the exclusive burden of existing homeowners. 

• We need to recognize and respond to the needs of all of our citizen groups, young and old, new and established. 

• We need leadership that is declaratively intolerant of discrimination of any kind and restores the welcoming nature of our community that is so important to the vast majority of us. 

While we are a small town, we need big ideas and strong leadership to follow through in order to forge positive results. We cannot continue to settle for the status quo…the current leadership is not driven by results. Our community has become stagnant, neglecting to capitalize on potential opportunities and failing to effectively address our challenges in a timely manner. 

It’s time to elect a proven leader who can effect positive change!