Steve Maguire, who has been with the town for 12 years as senior land use officer, was recently promoted to deputy land use director.

Maguire said Newtown is “a great town to work for,” and his work in land use is “extremely interesting.”

“There are so many issues we deal with,” said Maguire. “Every day has a new, different problem to solve.”

Maguire said many issues often end up with land use when others in town are unsure what to do about them.

“I like being a problem solver,” said Maguire.

The promotion has been a “very exciting transition” for Maguire, and he says in his new position he will get to look at the town “more holistically,” rather than concentrating on individual enforcement actions. He said he is taking over the town’s open space program, and will “look for new ways to preserve” land, and look for ways to “continue what [Land Use Director Rob Sibley] started” when he was deputy land use director.

“I’m looking to continue to expand on [the open space program],” Maguire said.

As deputy land use director, Maguire will be the flood plain manager for the town, handling the community’s rating systems, programs which help Newtown homeowners get discounts for flood insurance. Another part of Maguire’s new job is review process oversight of the town’s zoning enforcement officers.

“I’m really looking forward to the next step, and interacting with the public in a new way,” said Maguire. “It helps to see both sides, all different angles, and what is best for the town.”

Maguire said many towns have individual wetlands officers and zoning officers, but in Newtown, there are land use officers. Maguire said it is “more fluid” if each officer can handle both zoning and wetlands issues so that there are no problems in coverage if one is out.

In addition to being the land use department official to attend wetlands commission meetings, Maguire will now also be attending Conservation Commission meetings and Zoning Board of Appeals meetings. When a new senior land use enforcement officer is named, coverage of wetlands meetings will move to that position.

While not a Newtown resident, Maguire has lived in Connecticut all his life, and is married with two sons, 5 and 2, with a daughter on the way. He attended Keane State College and before working with the town, he interned with Sikorsky doing environmental health and safety.

“It was a great job but the main thing I like about government work is that I get to see the end product,” said Maguire. “I see the result of my work on a project.”

He started with the town in 2011 as a part-time wetlands enforcement officer, also working part-time in Monroe in a similar capacity. After a year of that, he moved to full-time status with Newtown and left employment with Monroe. In 2016, he was named senior land use enforcement official.

As senior land use enforcement official, he helped develop blight ordinances that were later adopted, which “handle clean-ups of derelict properties.”

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.