Briefing Book: The Iron Gentleman

Written by J. D. Piro
Thursday, 09 February 2012 01:00

When Briefing Book interviewed Peter Parsons for his then-long shot candidacy for Lewisboro town supervisor ("The Parsons' Tale," April 14), Mr. Parsons promised us that we'd get the first exclusive post-election interview with him should he prevail. Mr. Parsons is a man of his word, as we discovered two Thursday evenings ago when the Bat-Phone rang at the Briefing Book offices.

"This has to be a Democrat calling," said the surprised receptionist. "No one else but a Democrat would call us during a Republican debate! ... Ha ha! Yeah, and he records them, too! ... Sure, Mr. Parsons, I'll get him, just one moment — HEY TELL THE BOSS TO PUT NEWT ON MUTE! THE SUPERVISOR'S ON LINE ONE!"

And so it was that two Saturdays ago, we sat down with Lewisboro Town Supervisor Peter Parsons at Briefing Book's secure undisclosed location to get a sense of what life in the Town House is like for Lewisboro's newest elected officeholder. Not surprisingly, the gracious, genial and quietly confident Mr. Parsons is enjoying himself.

"One minor achievement," Mr. Parsons said, "is that I think people are happier now. People in the Town House are smiling. Most of the people in other parts of the government are smiling, too. When people are smiling and laughing they work harder."

In office barely a month, Mr. Parsons has been making the rounds of local officials from neighboring towns. Some of this face-time involves meeting new people, others just touching base with old acquaintances. "I've known [Bedford Town Supervisor] Lee Roberts for years. Our sons were on the same John Jay junior varsity soccer team."

As for his governing agenda, Mr. Parsons, with a lifetime of private sector experience, is probably the first town supervisor since Ed Mahoney who truly understands that his job is to manage the town and set priorities, not just add up the numbers and raise taxes. "We need to function in a more pleasant and orderly fashion. Any manager should do that. And we need to set priorities. My priorities don't cost money — which is good because we don't have any money!"

"The stormwater mapping has to get done," Mr. Parsons continued. "Otherwise the town government risks a penalty of $17,000 per month! Can that be done by volunteers? I hope so, but we have to avoid those penalties. If need be, I'm prepared to go to an outside firm of professionals."

He is the latest in a long line of Lewisboro town supervisors who will try to make the town government's offices at Onatru compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. "We're going to have to move fast on that," he noted. "The grant money goes away Sept. 19th."

Mr. Parson has three priorities on his agenda. First, expand the Lewisboro Library — a worthy goal, we note, given its current state. Second, clean up the Leon Levy Preserve. "We need a place to park there," Mr. Parsons noted. "The attractive nuisances need to be cleaned up and we need to stop the ATVs."

Third, reform the wetlands law. "The wetlands laws need to be made more applicant-friendly," Mr. Parson explained. "My friends on the left don't have to hit the ceiling when I say that. I don't want to tear up the wetlands laws. But putting in air-conditioning units and generators, that should be easy for people to do and do fast. I don't want people to be paying as much in fees as they pay to install the units!"

In a refreshing candid admission — refreshing for Lewisboro's politicians, anyway — Mr. Parsons freely admits that he doesn't know everything about town government. But he's learning fast and he's having fun doing it. He acknowledged taking some good-natured ribbing from his fellow town supervisors, who are amused that Lewisboro's "Curse of the One-Term Supervisor" placed another new face at the table. "They tease me about it, but we all face the same problems, regardless of our party affiliation."

Mr. Parson had some bipartisan help in getting up to speed. "Peter Harckham called and was very helpful, gave me some names to call. Bob Castelli, I've run into a lot. He does a good job, I like the guy." Enough to support him for re-election? "It might be helpful to have an assemblyman who understands Lewisboro," Mr. Parsons mused. "If we run a Democrat who does that as well as Bob does, then that's fine. But the first job is to represent the town. And Castelli is exceptionally good at constituent service."

As for his weekend plans, Mr. Parsons displayed more of his political smarts. "I want to see The Iron Lady, but my wife wants to see The Descendants. So I've decided I can always see The Iron Lady on my own."