Furrier Will Seek IPN Nomination—

Llodra, Rodgers Say They Will Run For Second Term

By John Voket

Republican First Selectman Pat Llodra and her running mate, Selectman Will Rodgers, announced this week their intentions to seek a second term in office.

Independent Selectman William Furrier also informed The Newtown Bee this week that if he receives his party’s nomination, he plans to seek reelection as well.

The Republican officials provided an in-depth, five-point statement — available in the online Source Files at NewtownBee.com — which revisits Mrs Llodra’s and Mr Rodgers’ campaign platform from two years ago, and updates the progress made toward those goals, while amending the list with developments that have arisen since taking office in December 2009.

The statement gives credit to Mr Furrier in matters that reflect unanimous decisions by the Board of Selectmen.

Mr Rodgers said that in reviewing progress made on his previous campaign commitments, he is pleased to see the steps that have been already completed in helping reformat Newtown’s long-term fiscal practices.

“These are steps we are taking toward greater fiscal responsibility,” Mr Rodgers said. “These are long-term structural and institutional changes that include funding more projects from our operational budget and capital nonrecurring fund [versus bonding], and the work we are doing toward increasing Newtown’s municipal bond rating.”

Mr Rodgers said if Newtown achieves a higher bond rating from Moody’s Investors Service — the nation’s leading municipal bond rating agency — it would represent the equivalent of a perfect credit score, and “an easy way to get further savings through lower borrowing rates from bonding.”

Mrs Llodra said that the long-term plan of reorienting Newtown’s fiscal discipline will help provide everyone in the community with the things they want. But in the next few years, some of the needs and wants exceed taxpayers’ capacity to afford them.

“We will have to defer some of those needs and wants, or we’ll find ourselves taxing residents to the extent we will be driving them out of here,” Mrs Llodra admitted. She said that the community should embrace a diverse population, and that includes young and older residents who need a tax structure that is manageable to ensure they remain in town.

Mr Rodgers and Mrs Llodra also said they want to continue the process of integrating Fairfield Hills into the overall fabric of the community, and as an extension, solidify the way the property will be used and managed in the future.

The first selectman said there is still an uncomfortable distinction among many residents, who separate the town-owned facility from the rest of the community because it is under the management of a non-policy-making authority.

Mr Rogers said that many of the candidates who ran for office two years ago pledged to create a review process regarding Fairfield Hills. And under the current Board of Selectmen, officials have been fair and relatively hands-off as a ad hoc review committee has worked toward completing its charge of developing recommendations about the campus, driven mainly by community consensus.

“We’ve been scrupulously fair about the process, and we’ve tried to shepherd the process without directing or prejudicing the outcome,” Mr Rodgers said.

Mrs Llodra said when her board receives the review committee’s report, possibly as soon as the end of June, that will mark completion of only the first phase of a multiphase process she hopes to see continue during a second term under her leadership.

“The next step is to engage, armed with the report from our review committee,” she said, adding that the next phase will depend on the work and cooperation of the Planning and Zoning Commission. But she also said the community as a whole needs to respect the outcomes from the ad hoc efforts, to close out discussions that were initiated during the first phase, and to “move on to establish the role of Fairfield Hills in our community.”

“It’s time we blurred the lines between Fairfield Hills and the town. Fairfield Hills has to become embedded in the right and best plan for the entire community overall,” she said.

Both officials said that the time for politicizing Fairfield Hills is over, and anyone attempting to exploit situations related to Fairfield Hills will disable the process from working its way to an appropriate end.

The officials also said that planning for Fairfield Hills will dovetail into a more comprehensive long-range plan for the entire community, which means the town must maintain a well crafted and implemented Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD).

Both Mrs Llodra and Mr Rodgers agree that Newtown is among many communities in the state with a good POCD, but no good plan to implement it.

“That’s the gap and we plan to fill it,” Mrs Llodra said. She also cited other planning components tied to roads and bridges, park and recreation facilities, and an inventory of, and plans for, the use of other municipal facilities, all which are presently ongoing or near completion.