Following the recent convening of the 2023 state General Assembly session — and giving him a little time to settle in and get acclimated — we are hoping the entire community will join in welcoming State Rep Martin "Marty" Foncello to the Newtown Legislative Delegation. Voters in his district have picked a very worthy new lawmaker, as have the voters of Brookfield and the wedge of Bethel he now represents.

Foncello, whose 107th house district is now overlapping sections of northeastern Newtown since the latest redistricting exercise, arrives at the Capitol with plenty of political and public service experience. That experience is fortified through nearly 30 years with the US Army, from which he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. During a 28-year stint that ended in 2002, Foncello served in all three components of the Army: Active, Reserve and National Guard.

During his years of service to the state and nation in those capacities, his concentration in military intelligence is notable, as was his activation post 9/11 to the newly-formed Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis. For over 14 years, he worked in New York City as a liaison to the NYPD, FDNY, and Office of Emergency Management.

He concurrently was an educator and adjunct faculty member at several regional in-state universities; literally headed up a small utility — the Greenridge Tax District and Water Company, which provided water to 270 homes in Brookfield and Newtown; and served as a member of Brookfield’s Economic Development Commission.

In a more hyperlocal political capacity, in 1999, Foncello was elected First Selectman of the Town of Brookfield, where he served two terms, and today he is a ranking member of the Newtown-Brookfield American Legion Post 202.

Newtown Bee readers can look forward to future input from, and coverage of, our newest lawmaker through and beyond what is shaping up to be a historical statehouse session.

Readers need only look as far as today’s edition to see that the rest of our delegation — Rep Mitch Bolinsky and Senator Tony Hwang — have also hit the ground running. Through their frequent interaction with and visits to the office of The Bee, we know their constituent service never really ends. We also know that both have been working tirelessly in recent months preparing for this current session, to ensure the needs of their constituents, including ours in Newtown, are addressed.

We trust Bolinsky’s and Hwang’s combined decades of state legislative experience will continue to serve Newtown well, and we look forward to robust input from all three of our delegation members as the current session continues to chug forward toward its early June culmination.

During that time, we encourage all of our state lawmakers to work together as collaboratively as possible, and to the extent they can, shelve the kind of partisan-driven agendas and antics plaguing statehouses across the nation — and even our own US Congress.

At the same time, we bid farewell and good luck to former Newtown delegates Raghib Allie-Brennan, whose 2nd District was shifted away from Newtown following last November’s elections, and the 112th District’s Rep Tony Scott. Each worked hard on behalf of the entire community of Newtown, despite the fact that each of their district overlaps only covered relatively few neighborhoods locally.

Thank you all for your elected service to the Newtown community.