Brookfield Candidate Profile: Andrea DiStephan For Town Clerk

BROOKFIELD, CT — Brookfield's election season is heating and there are plenty of contested races with candidates eager to get their name on the ballot for the town's municipal election. One of those contested races is the race for Town Clerk.

Brookfield Patch asked candidates in the contested races to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Andrea DiStephan, 45, is running for re-election as Town Clerk as a Democrat.

Are you running for office in Brookfield? Contact Brian McCready at brian.mccready@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Brookfield Patch.

Family: *

I have lived in Brookfield for the past fourteen years with my husband and two children who attend Brookfield schools.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? *

No

Education: *

I have a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from Queens College, CUNY

Occupation: *

Town Clerk of Brookfield

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office: *

Currently serving as the Town Clerk of Brookfield.

Campaign Website: *

www.brookfielddemocrats.org

The single most pressing issue facing our town/district is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it. *

The Four Corners Project, and as Town Clerk, I will maintain a user friendly and supportive environment in the Town Clerk’s office to serve the title searchers and attorneys working on behalf of the developers.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post? *

It’s been an honor to be the Town Clerk of Brookfield. Currently, I have completed 4 of the 5 Town Clerk classes towards certification, along with various other professional development classes. I am a highly organized person and I enjoy interacting with the people of our town. I have strong leadership skills and a friendly disposition that has moved the Town Clerk’s office in a positive direction. I pay acute attention to detail and believe in creating high efficiency and consistency in the work that I do. I would feel honored to continue serving the community as Town Clerk.

List other issues that define your campaign platform:

If re-elected as Town Clerk, custodian of town records, I plan to continue the progress made towards protecting documents using proper preservation practices such as re-creating torn land record volumes, scanning old land record volumes to reduce wear and tear on the volumes, and scanning of town wide minutes, previously stored in boxes, to create archival books and more.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

As a graduate of Queens College, CUNY with a major in Sociology, I feel I have a solid foundation for public service. I am proud of the accomplishments made during my tenure as Town Clerk including, but not limited to:

*Updated Marriage system to a more user friendly and efficient platform.

*Initiated the use of the State Election Management System.

*Initiated the use of Connecticut Voter Registration System.

*Added our recording program to more users for greater customer service and efficiency.

*Cross trained office staff.

*Initiated scanning of maps in house to reduce expense in outsourcing.

*Initiated scanning of Agendas and Minutes with the addition of a public computer for ease of viewing and preservation of documents.

*Expanded the use of Cott, our indexing system to include indexing of maps, births, deaths and marriages.

*Expanded hours during busy time such as dog licensing and elections to accommodate resident schedules that do not flow with Town Hall hours.

*Expanded our use of Cott to produce reports for state reporting.

*We now accept E-recordings.

*Condensed and properly indexed vital records improving vault storage space.

*Took advantage of Historical Document Preservation Grant to back scan old volumes to digital.

*Redacted social security numbers from all digital land records using Town Clerk Funds.

*Recreated 17 old, worn volumes in vault to preserve integrity and improve vault storage.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today!

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

It is an honor to serve the people of Brookfield and I have a strong desire to continue the work I started. I will continue to work hard and look for new ways to make the Clerk’s office work even better for the people of Brookfield.