NORWALK, Conn. — The community hall in Norwalk City Hall was buzzing Thursday as people new to city government learned what it would take to run for office, or just serve on a board or commission.
“It was nice learning the gist of what it takes because when you are so green, you don’t know about money raising, you don’t know where to get endorsements from, so it was fun,” said Attorney Douglas Stern, a 3-year resident of Norwalk who served as a volunteer coordinator for state Sen. Bob Duff (D-25) in the last election cycle.
“The forum was a resounding success. We had over 50 people there and it was not your average politicos – most were new faces!!” said Board of Education member Mike Barbis in an email after the event. Barbis organized the candidate forum along with Zoning Commissioner Nora King, Councilman John Igneri (D-District E), Councilman John Kydes (D-District C) and Democratic Town Committee members Kate Tepper and Galen Wells. King guessed that 80 to 100 people attended.
Senior members of the Republican Party were also there, including Republican Town Committee Vice Chairman Peter Nolin, Jim Feigenbaum, Andrea Light and Town Clerk Rick McQuaid.
Nolin said it was great to see.
“I think both parties need new blood. We want people involved,” Nolin said.
Attendees were shown a PowerPoint presentation that outlined basic things about Norwalk government, like the responsibilities of Common Council and Board of Education members, and the districts that make up Norwalk.
“If you are going to run, they really gave some good points,” DTC member Brenda Penn-Williams said.
“I thought the tone was really positive, the audience asked questions and there were representatives from both parties there … it truly was non-partisan,” Barbis said. “I know I got several names and numbers from people who were genuinely interested in running and serving. We’ll only know in the coming weeks if we actually found candidates to run for the Council or BOE or would be willing to be appointed to a board or commission. … I was impressed that the audience paid such close attention and asked probing questions.”
“I think it was great, it was informative,” said Mariella Castagnet of the Cranbury area, one of the new faces.
Castagnet has lived in Norwalk for more than two decades, and has two daughters who went through Norwalk Public Schools. “I personally came because I wanted to be involved in the Board of Education…. We cut programs. We keep teachers that are not supposed to be there and we need a change and I want to be involved,” she said.
Stern said his experience, besides volunteering for Duff, included attending “hilariously contentious DTC meetings.” He’d like to run for the Council in District C, or “just get involved,” he said.
Sarah Lemieux said she is thinking to run as a Board of Education member to represent District A.
“I am interested because my oldest daughter is in fourth grade in the system and I have 2½-year-old twins. I have a background in educational psychology and Special Ed and I feel like I have something that I could contribute, honestly,” Lemieux said.
Having the “chance to talk and listen and take the temperature of the tone of things” was nice she said, as she had met DTC Chairman Ed Camacho before but hadn’t met Barbis face to face, she said.
She’s watched a few videos of District A DTC meetings online, and recently went to a BoE meeting, she said.
“Perhaps I will get involved, just as a calm person,” Lemieux said. “I think as someone who has a background in a very wide range of situations – I taught in New Haven – I am good at making sense of different groups of people and helping them make sense to each other, and not in a ‘I’m going to tell all you people what to do’ kind of a way.”
Leave a Reply
You must Register or Login to post a comment.