Wallingford Candidate Profile: Shortell For Town Council

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

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

Chris Shortell, 47, is running for re-election to the Town Council as a Republican.

Are you running for office in Wallingford? Contact Vinnie Salzo at vincent.salzo@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Wallingford Patch.

Family:

Married with two boys (8 and 10 years old)

Education:

English Major, Holy Cross Master’s Degree, Wesleyan University

Occupation:

Marketing Director at Anthem BCBS; employed by Anthem for 24+ years.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office:

Elected to the Wallingford Board of Education (2014-15)

Elected to the Wallingford Town Council twice; seeking my third term, have been serving since 2016.

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

Public safety is the single most important issue. Our police dept. has been stretched thin, dealing with all types of crime, from car break-ins, to identify theft and the opioid crisis. None of these problems are going away and we need to continue to be vigilant as a community. I, along with two other Councilors (Laffin and Zandri), advocated for increased police staffing in the 2017 budget. We lost that battle, but I believe we paved the way in 2018 and 2019 for the Dept. to add four new police officers. For now, we are fully staffed, but we must continue to monitor this. The aging police station is another concern that we are going to have to address in the coming term.

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

I believe all the candidates--from both parties--love this town and want what's best. We sometimes don't always agree on the path forward. I have nearly three decades of business experience (beginning with Dime Savings Bank in the early 90s, and then in the insurance industry since 1995). I have held a variety of leadership positions at Anthem, and have been part of leadership teams with accountability for budgets as large as the town's. I've also worked with many municipalities over the years, both as an Account Manager and later as the Director of the RFP team. That exposure to how municipalities operate has been very helpful for me during my four years on the Council.

List other issues that define your campaign platform:

Aside from Public Safety, other issues include:

I am a proponent of the Community Pool project, and the proposed redesign is going to vastly improve that property and draw more people to use it. The town has had a Community Pool since before I was born, and there is no reason we can't continue to maintain this amenity.

I will continue to be a vocal advocate for both the Town and Board of Ed to modernize their health insurance plans with HSA offerings, similar to what private sector workers have. Health insurance is a significant line item in the budget (nearly $8M dollars) and an area that we should be focusing on to trim spending and lower taxes.

I will continue to fight for a transparent and open government. In my first meeting as a Councilor, I seconded the motion to expand public comment at our meetings to include "discussion" items on the agenda. During this term, I advocated for Ethics and Freedom of Information (FOI) training for boards and commissions (which passed), and also to have all minutes published on our town's website. We should be continually making sure that government is open, accessible, and transparent to the people it serves.

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

Spearheaded the effort to keep Community Pool open through Labor Day;

Successfully worked with Police Dept. to use their parking lot as a "safe zone" for people to exchange items purchased on social media tag sale web sites;

Proposed, advocated for, and successfully passed Ordinance requiring Ethics and FOI training for all members of Boards and Commissions.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

"You play the cards you're dealt." --my father, who at the time was fighting cancer, and refused to give up the fight.

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

In 1935, Robert Frost wrote, "It is immodest of man to think of himself as going down before the worst forces ever mobilized by God." His point was that every era thinks it has it the worst and that they are doomed. I am an optimist--I believe Wallingford can continue to be great, despite all of the economic uncertainty that surrounds us in Connecticut. But that only happens when you have a willingness to question and push for improvements, and be willing to work toward them--either behind the scenes or otherwise. I will continue to question the status quo, work to improve it where possible, and continue to crack bad jokes at every meeting (because sometimes, we also take ourselves far too seriously.)

Campaign website:

www.ckshortell.com