Rick Albrecht

I believe that at this time we are well served by the Board of Selectmen - Board of Finance - Town Meeting form of government. Every town in our area continues to operate with a 'hands on' First Selectman although Town Charters may vary the size of the board and method of election. While the Board of Selectman (BOS) is the primary policy making board, the board of Finance (BOF), by virtue of its' fiscal control can also influence policy.

Day to day managing can easily be done by the First Selectman. The 'job description' is not in the employee manual but I believe that while the First Selectman's position is a 24/7 responsibility, it's also a full time office job and I would not abuse the position by taking unusually long leaves for personal or business reasons. Obviously there are daytime appointments and obligations out of the office but my point is that I intend to treat it as a full time job.

There is one major responsibility that I would consider the First Selectman hand off because of its significant technical and long term responsibilities. That is the position of Director of Public Works. The operational budget for highway maintenance, transfer station/solid waste and Town Engineer is $1,250,000 without capital projects. During the last few years the responsibility for compiling these budgets has been passed down to the Highway Foreman. Currently we have an 'Acting Foreman' who was hired as the town mechanic. By default, the foreman has had to assume the roles of budgeting, working with contractors, working with vendors and supervising 10 - 12 employees.

We have recently heard a lot about our most valuable asset, our infrastructure, our aging infrastructure of roads, bridges and other rights of way. Because of years of poor planning we have been acting in crisis mode. I would propose that we investigate hiring a full time professional engineer to become the Director of Public Works. The BOS would still set the annual and long range agenda, but the recommendations would come from a professionally developed plan of action.

We recently learned that engineering studies and reports should accompany requests for changes and upgrades to the infrastructure, including placement of new stop signs and changes in speed limits. Please keep in mind that engineering costs for major projects are included in those projects.

There is currently a budget for routine services for a 'Town Engineer' of $40,000 and there are wages in the Highway account for eight employees. We only have six now. So without new money, I believe we could hire a Professional Engineer, letting the Highway Foreman go back to a 'Working Foreman' role as was originally the plan. I believe this course of action would prepare us for a fiscally sound and coordinated long range plan of action.