Crissy Kelly Running For Fairfield RTM District 9

FAIRFIELD, CT — It's election season in Fairfield, and Patch is here to help you get to know the candidates running for local office in 2021 before voters head to the polls Nov. 2.

Questionnaire responses appear as submitted by candidates.

Republican Crissy Kelly, 48, is running for RTM 9 in Fairfield.

Occupation: Stay At Home Mom/substitute Teacher

Family: Husband Dan Kelly

Children Devin (14), Mairead (13), Catherine (12), James (10)

Experience: RTM 9 incumbent

Family in government: No

The single biggest issue in town is ______, and I plan to do this about it:

If I had to pick one to prioritize I would say it's affordability. The beach area saw a huge property tax increase this year with the revaluation. While homeowners should be "happy" that their homes are worth more and that really only helps them if they plan on selling their homes right now. We want to be able to keep families and our seniors here and the only way to do that is to keep Fairfield affordable. I plan to continue to apply my finance background to reinforce disciplined spending. I take my fiduciary responsibility very seriously and will do everything I can to ensure that we are all getting the most bang for our tax buck.

Critical differences between me and my opponents:

As an incumbent and I feel like I bring some experience and knowledge of policies and procedures to the table. There's always more to learn but I really have learned a great deal over these very trying 2 years. I also come from a very analytical and financial background. Prior to being a stay at home mom and now a substitute teacher I worked in finance. I have learned that it's important to understand not only the human side of the issues but you also need to understand how to fund them and I believe that is one of my strengths.

Accomplishments:

Aside from actually handling the job for the past two years, I would say there are many things I have done in my life that have given me the skills to do this job. I have already mentioned my financial and analytical skills, but there are other accomplishments in my life that have honed other skills. For example, with the help of my husband, we are raising 4 incredible children. We all know that parenting isn't easy and our family is no exception. I manage the finances, manage all the schedules and carpools — I am effectively the CEO of the Kelly household. I also have been substitute teaching within FPS. Last year, once the schools opened full time in March, I was a lunch aide every day at the middle school so that the kids had room for safe social distancing. I had been very vocal about how I felt schools should be open full time and when I got the call to help out I didn't hesitate for one second. This is a prime example that when I believe in something I don't just talk the talk, and I will walk the walk and that's exactly what I will do for the residents of my district.

Other issues:

While talking to residents the two other major issues are safety and traffic. The safety concern stems from the increased number or cars being broken into and even stolen. I know that this increase is not unique to Fairfield and is part of a growing national trend. We need to continue to partner with the Fairfield Police Department to make sure they have all the tools they need to help keep our residents and their property safe. On the topic of traffic, this one is very challenging. We are building many new developments and multi family homes throughout town. I understand the benefit that this type of construction brings in the form of more affordable housing which is a good thing. However, and I personally feel like the town of Fairfield has seen a seismic change in its traffic patterns. COVID has changed people's commuting habits and with more people working from home there are more cars and people in and around town all day. We need to really take a look at the "new normal" of how congested our streets are when we are making future decision for Fairfield.

One specific initiative that I am in excited to potentially see come to the RTM is one proposed by the Fairfield Athletic Foundation. They are advocating to improve our towns athletic infrastructure — most notably by turfing more fields. As a mom of 4 kids who have played soccer, baseball, and softball all across Fairfield county, this is an initiative I fully support. I look forward to learning more about the specific plans, costs and funding possibilities for this projects as I believe this will provide a much needed upgrade to our athletic facilities and will pay dividends for the town going forward.