What would today's Darien winner do the first week?

Written by Lynsey Santimays
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 09:11

By the end of the day, Darienites will know which candidate will be moving into the big Town Hall corner office — and each of the three first selectman candidates has different plans for how they will spend their first week in office.

On Monday, David Campbell, Chris Noe and Callie Sullivan sat down with The Darien Times and shared their thoughts on many topics, including their potential first-days as first selectman.

Chris Noe, the independent candidate, involved religious figures and redecorating in his Week One plan.

“It seems like Evonne’s office has been occupied by evil spirits, so we have to get a bunch of rabbis and priests in there to get all of those out and bring in a bunch of positive energy,” Noe said.

After that “exorcism,” Noe wants to rid the first selectman office of everything left behind by the current administration and hire his “girlfriend to redecorate the place.” He said he’d pay the costs.

Following the redesign, Noe would pay a visit to town Public Works director Bob Steeger.

“I would redefine his job requirements to say no more PowerPoint presentations,” Noe said.

Lastly, Fred Conze in Planning & Zoning would also be getting a visit from Noe, to try to work out a plan that encourages people to create affordable accessory apartments on their property.

GOP candidate David Campbell plans to spend his first week meeting town employees, rather than ridding the town of potential evil spirits.

“I would be getting around town, meeting all of the town employees,” Campbell, the CEO of one of Darien’s largest employers, said. “That is how I run Ring’s End, we have over 400 employees and I know them all.”

Another aspect of Campbell’s first week involved communication.

“Communication is key, when there is not communication things fall apart,” he said.

Campbell added: “I consider the townspeople like my customers, and you have to communicate all the time.”

“I’ve been lucky enough that I’ve been doing that for the past 10 years,” Democratic candidate Callie Sullivan said. “The people in the town know me well and I know them well, so I’ll have a different focus.”

That focus includes looking for a new assistant, since former assistant Grace Hanafee has retired.

“I will be looking for someone with experience in government and proficient in technological communications to better communicate inter-office and intra-town,” Sullivan said. “I feel we need to have more communication with the town.”

In order to create more communication, Sullivan also wants to create public office hours on Fridays.

“People can come in and have lunch with me, and I can hear what is on people’s minds,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan also has plans to “reach out more to people who are using the roads because many are frustrated with the state Department of Transportation.”

“I want to create a series of video clips that show how badly the town is being affected by road issues,” she said. “People are sick and tired of Darien being one, big orange cone.”

Last on her list for first-week tasks is putting in motion a facilities management study— which would include the studying of 35 Leroy Ave.

Using a company called the National Executive Service Corps, which are based out of Greenwich, Sullivan wants to have them study all of the town’s facilities to ensure the town is using them in the most effective and efficient matter.

“I want to bring them in to see what do we need, what will it cost, and are we being efficient and effective in our current usages,” Sullivan said.

“By bringing in a third party, where no one lives in Darien and no one has skin in the game, I want to put to rest some of the feelings that we haven’t done enough studying,” Sullivan said.

Initiating the study would conclude Sullivan’s jam-packed first week.

A study, an exorcism, and a meet-and-greet— which one Darienites will get will be decided in less than a week.

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