Joe MacDougald To Run For Board Of Finance Seat

After serving on the town's Board of Selectmen since being appointed in 2008 to fill a vacancy and then elected in 2009, Selectman Joe MacDougald decided recently to not seek another term. He said at the time he was considering his options for what to do next and now he's decided.

After being approached by some fellow Republicans who asked him to seek a seat on the Board of Finance, he agreed to do just that and will submit his name for election to that post in November 2013. 

MacDougald said he decided to seek the post after learning that Republicans James Matteson and Lisa Favre would not be seeking re-election to the Board of Finance. 

MacDougald, while on the Board of Selectman, served as first selectman when the first selectman was out of town. He also served for ten years on the town's Planning & Zoning Commission, including six years as chairman. He was appointed to professor-in-residence and as executive director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Law at UConn in September 2011. He has earned degrees from Brown University (AB Mathematics), New York University (MBA), the University of Connecticut School of Law (JD), and Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (Masters in Environmental Management).  

Here is an edited version of answers to some questions about his work on the Board of Selectmen, and what he hopes to accomplish on the Board of Finance.  

Why did you decide to not seek re-election to the Board of Selectmen? 

The reasons were two-fold.

The first if that the Board of Finance is an unusual board in that it meets, on average, about three times a month. But there are a series of times you need to be in town hall. And the liaison part of the job can be difficult, because that can require additional time in the evening 

The second part is personal.  I call it my five-year rule. Not that you always have to leave, but you need to do something differently or move things around after about five or six years to make sure you are still brisk and attentive.

 

What are you proud of having accomplished while serving on the Board of Selectmen?

I am very proud of some of the boards we have put into place. The Conservation Commission I pushed as a zoner and pushed as a selectman. The Land Acquisition Committee and the Historic District in the center of town. Also the Downtown Village District my group put it. That all sort of works together so that people can both look for opportunities and also looking for where we shouldn’t build. These were not my ideas alone, but working with others we got it done.

As a selectman, restructuring the legal relationships, and bringing in the current law firm we use. We have saved a lot of money. We worked hard to solve the problems and straighten out the relationship with the police department. We brought in a new police chief. We have a new police commission. That’s been a huge, big deal.

What could the Board of Selectmen have done better

I think we have a couple of big, open items. We don’t have an answer for Academy School. That is a giant issue for the town, and that’s work undone. The town needs better roads, and that is in process. And we need to have the opportunity to open more restaurants in the middle of town. They’re working on it, but it’s a big challenge.

And the last thing is that I always feel the conversation we have around budgeting and financial review needs more sharpening.  It gets a little better every year and we can continue to improve.

Why did you decide to run for the Board of Finance?

I had actually told them [his fellow Republicans] I was going to sit this cycle out. Started to hear from [First Selectman Fillmore [McPherson], [state Rep.] Noreen Kokoruda and Tom Banisch (head of the Republican Town Committee]. Two of the current members of the Board of Finance aren’t running, Jim Matteson and Lisa Favre. And they wanted someone who had been through the budget cycle. Originally I resisted, but Fillmore spoke with me about the schedule of the Board of Finance, and the timing of the schedule is better for me

Also, I’ve been very involved with the discussions about the pensions, and this is a way for me to stay involved with that. 

What do you hope to accomplish on the Board of Finance?

Well, it will be a new board for me, and there’s an awful lot I don’t know about it. 

But I would very much would like to talk about the methods and procedures we use when establishing the town budget. I have to give credit to [Board of Finance Chairman] Lisa Tung. She has already started that process.

How will your experience as a lawyer, and as an expert on the environment, energy, constitution and land use reform inform our work on the Board of Finance, if you are elected?

Well, I think a lot of what I do is about the interplay between municipal, state and federal government.  I was recently interviewed by NPR on the issue of federal flood insurance and how it relates to local housing [follow this link to hear interview]. That’s the kind of thing I can get interested in.  How does the town fit into what the state is doing, and how does the state fit into what the federal government is doing?

What most people don’t realize is that most of your day is influenced by zoning decisions and decisions about local taxes. Most everything you do when you first get up is influenced by sleepy people doing zoning decisions at night, and by the state Department of Transportation. It is municipal government that guides the reality of most of our day-to-day lives.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Yes. I would like to offer eternal thanks to my wife, Lisa, who tolerates all of my extracurriculars.