Candidate Profile: Ellen Hillman

Editor's note: The following candidate profile comes from a questionnaire the candidate filled out.

Ellen Hillman, 52, is a Republican running for a seat on the Montville Town Council. Hillman is currently on the council, and serves as its vice chairman.

She lives in Uncasville and works as a freelance writer and a teacher.

Hillman graduated from Three Rivers Community College, where she studied early childhood education, and from UConn, where she studied real estate. 

She was first appointed to office in May 1998, and has served every year except  2008/2009. This is her 12th year on the council.

She has held a seat on the Parks & Rec Commission as well as the Conservation Commission.

Currently, she holds the following seats: Chairperson, Administration/ Rules and Procedure Sub-Committee, Town council liaison to the nonprofit organizations, and to the WPCA. She is a member of the WPCA Commission. 

In the past, she has served on the Finance Committee, Public Works subcommittee, Solid Waste subcommittee, and Administration subcommittee.

She has been liaison to the Public Safety Commission, Planning and Zoning Commission, and the Firefighters Relief Fund Commission.

She started the Montville Community Gardens, and is involved with the Eastern Connecticut Community Garden

Top thee issues facing the town:

1. Growth rate: The major issue for Montville is that we are growing at a rapid rate and need to adjust to that.

We are not growing with population, but with needs. In today’s economy we need to adjust how we do business, to give the taxpayers the biggest bang for their buck.  

One way is to stop bonding for infrastructure repairs and equipment, but to start using our 5 year capital plan like it was established to work. That means training department heads to plan ahead for capital repairs.

Right now we got into the niche of bonding for vehicles and other small budget items. The result is that we are paying interest over a long period of time. We now need to save up to purchase these items so plow trucks and vehicles can be planned out over time and a small amount set aside each year to fund the items. The only way you can place money aside and ear mark it for infrastructure repairs is to have a good capital five-year plan. Montville has not had one in years.

2. Expansion: In order to keep taxes down, we need to expand our commercial growth while still cradling our industrial entities.

Let’s face it: Industry is dying in the United States so to try to expand industrial is futile right now. But the need for commercial growth has always been an issue. We need to actively seek out new areas of development without damaging the rural structure in our town.

The Route 32 corridor is the basic area to do this. We have not capitalized on office space but on commercial businesses. We need to expand and to offer individual businesses incentives to set up in our town.

3. Changes in Town Hall: I think our town employees need to be cross-trained. An example would be clerks/secretaries; there is no reason that the Parks and Recreation secretary, the Youth Services secretary, the Senior Center secretary, the Building Department secretary, the Assessor secretary, and the Planning and Zoning secretary can’t be cross-trained.

This would allow for vacations and lunch breaks to be set up for everyone and no office would go unmanned. This would also allow for shorter work weeks, saving the taxpayers money.

The union contracts need to be written to allow this, and the town council needs to think about ordering it.

Town Hall opens at 8 a.m. There is no reason why it cannot open at 9 a.m., other than it makes for a less-than-40-hour work week. Working 30 hours a week will save almost a mil in taxes - the same mil that the Rand Whitney bond will cost the town in 2012. With secretaries cross-trained no service will be cut and the taxpayers will reap the benefits.

One thing that most people don’t know about you:

My ability to make something out of nothing. I am a great crafter and cook. I welcome the challenge of taking minimal items and making something functional out of them.

I think that is why I do well as a town councilor. I can think outside the box and take a program and suggest ways to redesign it to make it less costly and serve a greater public.