Board of Finance candidate John Palermo:Leadership by example

Written by John Palermo
Thursday, 13 October 2011 06:57

Ridgefield has been my home for 34 years. I am an executive with IBM for 33 years, 30 years in finance. I have held leadership positions as a country certified financial officer, a division controller and treasurer. These experiences have allowed me to learn private sector best practices around financial management, contract and vendor negotiation, IT systems and insurance. I have applied these techniques to improve town government while serving on the Board of Education. I am seeking a position on the Board of Finance.

I am a believer that being on a town board means you also need to be active and engaged. I have been on the Board of Education for nearly four years. I am the chair of the Finance Committee, chair of the town and Board of Education Energy Committee, and on the Labor Negotiations committee. I believe we need a quality school system.

While on these committees, I have led efforts to reduce the growing spending that was in existing labor contracts or imbedded in outdated management policies. Examples include lower overall compensation package for all bargaining units, benefits (introduction of HSAs), that have reduced costs to the town while enhancing the packages to the bargaining units. We have reduced the cost of busing and energy with in the way we purchase energy, but with several cost saving energy projects. These efforts have led to multimillion-dollar savings to the Town of Ridgefield. These savings were used to protect essential education programs and minimize the impact on the taxpayers. These best practices around (HSAs) and energy are now being adopted by the town.

Ridgefield needs Board of Finance members who lead by example, are engaged and get ahead of issues, are engaged and solve challenges, not members who look at history, spreadsheets and hope for the best.

Please vote for me Nov. 8.