East Windsor First Selectman Candidates Talk Business With Chamber

Two of three candidates for East Windsor First Selectman attended a Wednesday morning business networking event and were asked about their visions for the town and qualifications for the job.

Incumbent Denise Menard, a Democrat, said with the ongoing installation of sewers on North Road, one of her visions for the town involves attracting medical companies to locate in East Windsor. Menard said the town is midway between Springfield and Hartford hospitals, and can use that as a selling point.

“We need to be a base for some kind of medical industry,”  Menard said.

Challenger Judith Rajala, a petitioning candidate without party designation, said she agrees with the efforts of the town’s planning and zoning commission which is discussing which direction development along North Road should go. The town should also not make it difficult for businesses to locate in East Windsor.

“They want to do it right,” Rajala said. “They want to have community input.”

The event, sponsored by the East Windsor Chamber of Commerce, was held at the . Robert Slate, the petitioning Republican candidate for first selectman, was invited to the chamber meeting but did not attend, James Richards, chamber executive director, said.

Paul Delskey, chamber president, said the chamber members thought it would be interesting to have the candidates attend the meeting to introduce themselves and take questions from the audience.

Menard and Rajala were also asked what they thought are their qualifications for the job.

Rajala listed her Bachelors and Masters degrees in English, her 10 years on the board of education and serving on its finance committee, and starting her own business which was bought by bigger global company.

She said because of that acquisition she manages a $100 million business for that company and leads people across the country in that business.

“You have to understand people, having the respect of your employees,” Rajala said. “Doing these things in my life has already prepared me for this job.”

Menard, who is completing her first term as first selectwoman, listed her business degree; work as commercial real estate paralegal; and previous terms on the boards of selectmen and finance, water pollution control authority and the planning and zoning commission.

Menard said she has made changes in the way the town does business and during her term there have been conservative budgets, and the town’s credit rating.

“We’ve sort of taken the way things are done, dump them upside down and made changes gradually,” Menard said.