Hamden’s Democratic Primary elections on Sept. 14, resulted in Lauren Garrett defeating incumbent Mayor Curt Balzano Leng.
Garrett’s row of candidates in the other town governmental positions won the Democratic nomination as well, including the Legislative Council.
The Legislative Council has two branches of representatives: district and at-large. People choose their district representatives based on which voting district they live in. There are nine districts in Hamden, and one representative for each.
The at-large council consists of six people, which the entire town votes for. Each person can vote for four people for the at-large council, and the six people with the most votes will be elected.
The at-large council Democratic candidates consist of Garrett’s row of people: Dominique Baez, Katie Kiely, Cory O’Brien, and Laurie Sweet.
Dominique Baez, an incumbent legislative council member, is one of the candidates for the Legislative Council. She has experience working for a nonprofit in Connecticut that helps unemployed people, according to the New Haven Register.
Her goal in her previous term was to help develop Hamden’s economy by stimulating local businesses and employing town residents.
According to the New Haven Register, Baez was part of a deal that requires construction projects in Hamden to “provide evidence of best efforts” in making 10% of construction hours completed on projects by Hamden residents. Also in the deal, 6.9% of hours should be completed by women and 17% should be completed by men of color.
Baez wants the Legislative Council to focus its policy-making on improving employment for Hamden residents.
Laurie Sweet has similar goals to Baez should she get elected to the council in November. She ran for the council previously and decided to run again since the concerns she had two years ago have not changed.
She said that her biggest goal was balancing the checkbook in Hamden. Taxes have increased in Hamden, which Sweet said she knows has upset residents.
“Obviously, it’s a big task, I’m not trying to undermine the effort (it will take),” Sweet said.
She said she wants to be realistic in finding a way to pay debt and decrease taxes, but intends to improve the financial situation in Hamden.
To do so, she said the most important thing is to be accessible.
“Residents want to call and have someone answer the phone,” Sweet said.
She said her first goal will be to improve the relationship with residents by making communication better. She plans on setting up a Google Voice, which is essentially a phone system, in order to be as available as possible to the residents.
Cory O’Brien, a former member of the council at large two terms ago, was nominated in the Democratic Primary for the election in November.
His campaign revolves around improving the finances of Hamden and educating the residents about the local economy.
I believe in fiscal responsibility and sustainability, not only environmentally, but also physically.
O’Brien on financial determination
He said he is passionate about finances and thinks that is the most important topic the town needs to focus on. He wants to create a plan that will address the tax increase and the work on paying back the debt the town has amassed.
Katie Kiely is an elementary school teacher in Hamden, who is making her first run for Hamden Legislative Council.
According to the New Haven Register, she thinks the main issues Hamden needs to focus on are finances and allocating resources throughout the town more evenly.
Kiely also said she wants to give a voice to all residents in the community. Similar to Sweet, she thinks improving accessibility to the town is the most pressing task.
All of the Democratic candidates have a goal of giving a voice to the town of Hamden and improving the financial situation.