Patch Candidate Profile: Debbie Szegedi​​​​, Easton Town Clerk

EASTON, CT — The 2023 municipal election is heating up in Easton and there are plenty of races with candidates eager to serve in elected office.

Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as Election Day draws near.

Debbie Szegedi, 52, is running for re-election as Easton town clerk on the Republican Party line.

Education.

Fairfeld Public School System K-12

What is your occupation?

Town Clerk since April 19, 2022.

I was Assistant Town Clerk from February 2, 2002 till the time I was appointed to Town Clerk

Do you have a family? If so, please tell us about them.

I live in Easton with my partner of 27 years Gary.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Have you ever held a public office, whether appointive or elective?

None

Why are you seeking this office?

I have been a loyal and dedicated employee for the past two decades. During my time as Town Clerk I have worked to bring new services and enhancements to our town residents. Through your support I hope to build upon this to ensure that the residents have reliable and trusted access to the services that they need.

Please complete this statement: The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is ___, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Early voting. At this time we do not have any guidance from the State on how we are going to proceed with this. As we move toward 2024 when this will be an historic time in Connecticut for implantation of early voting. I will work with the Registrar of Voters and Secretary of the States Office to provide the best service possible to our residents.

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

The major difference is my 21 years of experience in this office. I have worked on both sides first as Assistant Town Clerk and now as Town Clerk. I have a first hand knowledge of what needs to be done on a day to day basis in order to fulfill our statutory obligations and duties while meeting the needs of our residents.

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

House Bill 6648. Currently each Town has their own choice of a Land Records provider. The State is looking into creating 1 centralized portal for all of the 169 Towns to ultilize. This presents an issue if the site happens to go down leaving no access to our Residents, Realtors & Title Searchers who rely heavly on this site. Our Centralized Voting System is an example of the kind of portal that they would like to create. We have frequent issues with no access from the site being down. A prime example of this is October 6, 2023 the first day that Absentee Ballots became available. Being a small Town we did not have the high volume of requests that the larger Towns incur. Regarless we had a backup plan for our office. Our CTCA (Connecticut Town Clerks's Association) has gotten the Legislaton to form a working group to study the pros & cons. They listen to our concerns and summit our letters to the Legislation. They continue to provide us with updates.

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

When I was first took over as Town Clerk in April the office was staffed with one other Full Time Assistant Town Clerk who was another long time employee. She decided it was time to retire in May. In the process of running the office and settling into my new position and duties, I was tasked to interview and hire candidates for the two open positions. But it didn't stop there. Once they were hired I needed to train them on our various programs, systems, tasks, policies, procedures and duties. I have been very blessed and proud of the staff I hired, I could not do all of this without them. We all work together as a team in order to provide our residents with the service that they deserve. They have both been with me for over a year now and still like me so I must have done something right.

Our office hours were updated, we don't close for lunch. How frustrating is it when you make a special trip to try to get something done only to find out they are closed for lunch?

Our Online Land Record portal users had incompatibility issues with their browsers, they were not able to access the site with a Mac. We changed over to a new browser view which eliminated these issues.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

From my Dad -If you want something, work hard for it and give it your all.

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I am very proud of the operational improvements that I have made to the office and I will continue to provide the residents with reliable and trusted service. I hope to continue with your support this November. I hope the voters will consider professionalism over political partisanship when casting your vote.