Government

Election 2017: New Canaan Hub [UPDATED]

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What follows is a digital voter guide for Tuesday’s election. Voter Turnout

As of 6 p.m., 4,986 New Canaan residents had cast their ballots—322 by absentee ballot and 4,664 at the polls. The number of residents casting ballots at Saxe and NCHS represents a 42 percent increase over the last local election through the same hour. If voters turn out this year at the same rate as they did in 2015, New Canaan will see a 39 percent turnout. Here’s a table detailing total voter turnout in recent local elections:

 

And here’s a table that compares hourly voter turnout two years ago—when there was no truly contested first selectman race—to this year:

 

Kit Devereaux, Democratic candidate for first selectman, said minutes before she entered Saxe to cast her own ballot that she was “feeling really good” about the campaign and election. “I think I’ve done absolutely everything I can, and so now it’s just a matter of waiting to see what happens,” she told NewCanaanite.com.

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NewCanaanite.com Endorsement for Treasurer

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As with its first selectman race, New Canaan is fortunate to have two highly qualified candidates—though with different professional experience—for town treasurer. Andrew Brooks, a financial consultant and two-term Republican incumbent, faces Democrat Rob Fryer, a retired CPA whose background includes decades as senior partner with a Big-Four accounting firm. While both could be expected to do a very good job in a role that only recently evolved from that of a ceremonial functionary, Brooks has earned re-election—not only through his responsible stewardship of tax dollars to date, but also his conscientious navigation of Town Hall politics. A state-mandated position, the town treasurer oversees New Canaan’s receipts and expenses as its “cash manager,” as well as signing off on bond issues and acting as treasurer of municipal trust funds. Brooks, after succeeding a 24-term incumbent four years ago, has been proactive in a role that he continues to define even as he works within it.

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Letter: Re-Elect Town Treasurer Andrew Brooks

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The Town of New Canaan is fortunate to have Andrew Brooks as its Treasurer, and we deserve to have him continue in that position. During his tenure as Treasurer, Andrew has transformed the office from an honorary role into one of significant substance. He has applied his financial experience and leadership skills to implement real changes in the way our tax dollars are managed. Among other contributions, Andrew has enriched the Town’s treasury by increasing income from investments, strengthening scrutiny and containment of the Town’s expenditures, reducing fees and protecting our AAA bond rating in spite of Connecticut’s multiple rating downgrades. He has collaborated closely with our Audit Committee, external auditors, and Finance Department officials to propose and implement enhanced internal controls.

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Letter: Town Treasurer Andrew Brooks’ Quiet Excellence

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I often wonder: What happened to all the elected officials who, with quiet competence, show up for work and just get the job done? Well, New Canaan is fortunate to have such a person in the form our town’s treasurer, Andrew Brooks. His consistent success as our treasurer is demonstrated through his management of the town’s investments and bank relationships, which have generated over a million and a half dollars of tax savings. In addition, Andrew Brooks has streamlined the town’s bank relationships, and helped with risk identification and remediation. A highly trained and experienced consultant to major corporations in finance and risk management, Andrew Brooks has exactly the resume New Canaan needs in a treasurer.

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Letter: Town Treasurer Andrew Brooks ‘Has Grown in Office’

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As NC Republican Town Committee Chairman from 2010-2014, I have been pleasantly surprised how our current twice elected Town Treasurer Andrew Brooks, has grown in office. After a stint teaching low-income students with AmeriCorps and brandishing his Economics degree from Brandeis University; this town native who was  first elected in 2013, revamped the Town Treasurer’s role and brought it into the modern age with little  support from Town Hall. Andrew has really made a difference in our town government and has utilized his professional experience at two prestigious consulting firms working with Fortune 500 clients assisting them in  effectively managing regulatory change and strategic initiatives. If you are a voter who is worried about their tax burden; you should be supportive and grateful that Treasurer Brooks was able to increase our investment earnings by over one million real dollars the past few years. It also appears that Andrew has the support of the NC Audit Committee and has worked closely with them to right the chronic deficiencies that we experienced under our prior Finance Director; who abruptly left New Canaan’s town hall without a clear explanation of the terms of her departure.