Rodolico Warns State, Federal Aid Dwindling

Be prepared, says John Rodolico, because state and federal governments are going to put the financial squeeze on towns such as Ledyard.

In a recent interview, the Republican candidate for mayor called local government “the last bastion of fiscal sanity,” and warned that irresponsible actions at the state and federal levels make it necessary for towns to be more efficient in the way they do business. Municipal aid will dwindle, he said.

“It’s only a matter of time before what’s going on in Hartford and Washington affect the operation of local government,” the 61-year-old said. “Towns are going to have to pay the price of reduced support.”

Rodolico was raised in a middle-class family in Brooklyn, N.Y., where his mother was a seamstress and his father was a civilian employee of the Army. He moved to Ledyard in 1972 when he accepted an engineering position at Electric Boat. He remains there as a Principal Engineer, but said he is ready to retire if elected mayor.

He stressed that he is a fiscal conservative and ready to meet the daunting challenges that will face Ledyard in the coming years.

In 1992, he was elected to the town council and re-elected four times. He left the council in 2001 to sit on the Charter Revision Committee. In 2007, he was elected to the council again and served as its chairman, a position he had occupied previously.

Rodolico said the main role of local government is to provide basic services. “If you plow the roads and pick up the garbage, those are the bare essentials. And if you don’t do a good job, these are the areas that can get you into the most trouble.”

Having said that, he reiterated that bracing for the likelihood of reduced municipal aid has be to a top priority.

“There has to be cooperation of town agencies where possible,” he said. “We have to do things like share IT (Information Technology) and improve financial management because we’re going to be squeezed like never before.”

He also proposed creation of a department of land use that would place the functions of planning, wetlands protection, building and economic development under one umbrella.

He favors responsible development but said residents won’t stand for a major industry to move into town. He said even the opening of a CVS pharmacy created a controversy. Regarding the tax situation, he said: “There’s no way you’re going to build your way out of that.”

Chosen over Allyn

Ledyard Republicans chose Rodolico as their nominee over controversial incumbent Mayor Fred B. Allyn Jr., who decided to collect signatures and run as a petitioning candidate. Other candidates are Anthony Saccone Sr., a Democrat who is chief of the Gales Ferry Volunteer Fire Company, and petitioning candidate Robert Lawrence .

Rodolico is a harsh critic of Allyn, saying he agrees with Allyn’s assessment of himself as a “benevolent dictator.”

Rodolico said if Allyn had his way he would run roughshod over the town charter. Those intentions have been reigned in, according to Rodolico, because the town council has stood its ground.

“His approach is a ‘my way or the highway style of government,’” Rodolico said. “That is not what the town charters says it should be.”

He said Ledyard doesn’t have a dysfunctional government, “but it’s a dysfunctional mayor’s office.”

Rodolico said he is a polar opposite of Allyn. He argued that improved communication between the mayor, the council and Ledyard residents is a must. Rather than having a secretive mayor’s office, he said, 99 percent of government should be transparent and open to residents.

“The new mayor has to repair the damage that has been done. He has to communicate, compromise and create a town government that is in line with what the town charter says it should be.”

Rodolico and his wife, Joyce, have three grown children. He was educated in the New York public school system, received an aerospace engineering degree from New York Polytechnic Institute, and a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Connecticut.

At EB, he worked on the the NR-1, and had a part in designing and maintaining the Ohio, Los Angeles, and Virginia class submarines. He also worked with Westinghouse in the design and construction of the first new nuclear power plants to be built in the country in nearly 40 years.

The Rodolicos have taught Sunday School for more than 40 years, most recently at Groton Heights Baptist Church, where John has served as a deacon, trustee and Sunday School superintendent.