Grimes enters race for Brookfield Republican first selectman nod

Note: A more comprehensive story on Grimes campaign will be posted during the week of March 12 at Brookfield Patch

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – On a warm June night in 1997, the president of the senior class at Brookfield High School noted early in his commencement speech that he wasn’t going to announce that he was running for first selectman.

Matt Grimes immediately apologized to his grandfather, Fred Standt, then a member of the Brookfield Board of Finance, who was in the audience at the outdoor athletic complex.

A month later, Grimes managed Standt to victory in the race for the Republican nomination for first selectman at the party caucus.

He left for college shortly thereafter, and Standt lost by just 17 votes in a September primary to incumbent Republican Bonnie Smith, who again prevailed in November to garner a sixth term.

Now, 26 years later, Grimes is running for the Republican nomination for first selectman, and will formally kick off his campaign March 16 at 6:30 p.m. with a reception at John’s Best Pizza on Federal Road.

He said, if elected, one his goals will be to upgrade the police facilities. The headquarters on Silvermine Road opened in 1984, and there has been discussion over the recent years about the need to expand it.

Said Grimes: “It is analogous to the high school when I got on the Board of Education” in 2001. He was chairman of the board's Facilities Committee at the time and in 2003 became chairman of the school board. The expansion of Brookfield High School (BHS) was approved in April 2003 and added, among other things, a science lab section and synthetic athletic fields as well as upgrading the other parts of the building to comply with current building codes.

“First response is a priority in town,” Grimes said in an interview with Patch.com.

He noted that there are more businesses and housing – particularly in the emerging 198-acre Brookfield Town Center near the Four Corners intersection of Federal Road. There are going to be more calls for public safety.

Grimes added, “The population is aging. The ambulance calls are through the roof.”

He said Democratic former First Selectman Steve Dunn and his then- Republican opponent Harry Shaker, now a member of the Board of Selectmen, each said during the 2017 municipal election that the upgrade in police facilities would be a priority, yet “We have no plan before the voters.”

Grimes said the current facility is not Title IX complaint and lacks adequate space for the current roster of personnel.

On another topic, Grimes said, “We don’t have a long-term plan for the roads.”

Grimes, who formerly served as the town attorney in New Milford under Pete Bass, the current mayor there, has proposed that Brookfield establish a Municipal Roads Committee, which has been effective in New Milford over the recent years.

“They have been able to get the roads maintained with very little burden to the overall operating budget,” he commented.

Grimes noted that the Public Works director in New Milford is an ex-officio member of that committee so that there is regular communication between the various components of the municipal government.

Regarding Brookfield Town Center, where considerable apartment housing has been added in recent years, he said even with the addition of a New England-style Central Business District, "This is still the same Brookfield that I grew up in. It has been rearranged a bit.”

On the recent decision by Twitter to suspend the account of first-term Republican First Selectman Tara Carr for what have been described as controversial postings related to the Chinese balloon that hovered over the United States, Grimes remarked, “I’m not a perfect person. No first selectman is perfect. But if I had done something that embarrassed the town of Brookfield like that, I would have immediately apologized for what I did. And I would ask for forgiveness.”

In a statement posted February 22, Carr wrote, in part: "Unfortunately, some on the fringe of the political spectrum, who are more interested in engaging in vitriolic statements and fabricating their own truths, rather than intelligent discourse, took these comments out of context and made ridiculous and false assertions that somehow, I was promoting violence against our nation’s President. This is a complete lie.”

In an e-mail statement to Patch.com on March 7 regarding Grimes’ entry into the campaign, Carr wrote, “Our political system in this great country, from federal to local elections, is all about choice and opportunity. Mr. Grimes, like any other active Brookfield Republican, is within his right to seek the opportunity to receive his party’s nomination for any elected office, just like I did a year and a half ago. The choice, obviously will lie with the voters for the person they feel is best suited to be (or remain?) at the helm, guiding our wonderful town.”

Brookfield Republican Town Committee Chairman George Blass wrote in an e-mail statement on March 7 to Patch.com, “Any person wishing to be considered for a recommendation by the Brookfield Republican, Town Committee must first apply to our vacancy committee. Our Vacancy Committee conducts an extensive vetting and interview process for all candidates that wish to be considered. The vacancy committee after hearing all applicants would submit their recommendation to the full town committee for a vote. The vacancy committee has not yet met to start interviewing candidates, therefore, at this time I have no comment.”

Brookfield Democratic Town Committee Chairman Aaron Zimmer wrote in a March 7 e-mail message to Patch.com that, “We are surely going to run someone” for first selectman. He stated that further information would be provided at a later date.

Grimes said he plans to be interviewed by the Brookfield Republican Vacancy Committee and said he would likely take the campaign to a primary in September, if that is required to annex the GOP nomination.

He added that he filed his campaign committee papers on February 3, before the news coverage regarding the suspension of Carr’s Twitter account. He said he has been talking to residents about a possible campaign since last August.

What current or former elected officials does Grimes most admire?

“Mark Boughton,” he said, indicating that the Republican former 10-term mayor of Danbury is “a mentor of mine. He set a high benchmark.” He said that an uncle of his taught with Boughton in the same classroom many years ago at Danbury High School, where Boughton was a Social Studies instructor.

Grimes also named Brookfield Republican former First Selectman Bud Brown, who served from 1977 to 1983. Grimes noted that Standt, his grandfather, managed Brown’s campaigns for office.

Grimes said that under Brown Brookfield approved construction of the current Municipal Center on Pocono Road in 1981.

When it opened in 1983 some residents wondered why it was so big and referred to it as a "Taj Mahal."

Remarked Grimes, “It turned out to be what the town needed.”

Resources:

Matt Grimes interview, Patch.com, Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Tara Carr e-mail statement, Patch.com, Tuesday, March 7, 2023

George Blass e-mail statement, Patch.com, Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Aaron Zimmer e-mail statement, Patch.com, Tuesday, March 7, 2023.