Danbury Candidate Profile: Rachel Chaleski For City Council

DANBURY, CT — The 2019 municipal election is heating up in Danbury and there are plenty of races with candidates eager to serve in elected office.

Danbury Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Rachel Chaleski, 40, is running for City Council-At-Large as a Republican and Independent. She is the current vice chairperson for the Danbury Board of Education, and holds a bachelor's degree in Biology from Concordia College.

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

Danbury has consistently defied the trend of the rest of Connecticut in various ways, as the fastest growing city, one of the most diverse, safest and best places to start a business. The consistency at which Danbury has grown over the past decade has presented its challenges, but can also be viewed as testament to the leadership that has made Danbury an attractive place for families and businesses that want to come live and work here

Danbury is uniquely challenged in that it does not have the tax-base of the cities we are most commonly compared with (Stamford and Norwalk). I believe the most pressing issue our city officials face is to responsibly balance the overall city budget with finite resources, in order to provide for ALL residents a safe and thriving economic environment, and to do so with the sensitivity of the taxpayers’ burden in one of the highest taxed states in the country.\

As a Board of Education member and parent of young children in the public school system, I want more for our children – educational equity, opportunity and excellence. I also know that the majority of our students come from low-income households and many of our families categorize within the United Way’s ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), who live paycheck to paycheck but don’t quite qualify for financial aid. Given the opportunity to work on the City Council, I will bring this broad perspective to effectively and responsibly manage our challenges

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

My husband and I are longtime Danbury residents with two children in the Danbury Public Schools. We chose to raise our family in Danbury, because of the various opportunities, rich diversity, affordability and wonderful community. Over the years that my children have been in the school system, I have found a passion for serving my community and ways to apply my professional background in corporate finance to my volunteer work, which has ranged from PTO President to Junior Achievement Facilitator to Kindergarten Interventionist. This work was further fueled when I became a graduate of the Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI), a program that teaches parents to become advocates and civically engaged in their communities

List other issues that define your campaign platform:

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

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

The best advice ever shared with me was to always stay true to one’s values in order to act with honesty and integrity.