Town Council Candidate: Bill Johnson

Editor's note: Seventeen candidates are running for 9 seats on the Groton Town Council on Nov. 8. Below is a Q&A with one of the candidates.

Name: Bill Johnson

Age: 36

Education: Bachelor's degree in finance, University of Connecticut, as well as work for degrees in risk management and marketing

Work Experience: Currently General Manager of Johnson's Hardware.  Worked 12 years in the mortgage lending industry

Civic/Political Experience:  Current member off the Groton Town Council

Family:  Married with 2 children, both attending Groton Public Schools 

Why are you running for this office?   The people of Groton have supported my family for four generations.  One small thing I can do in return is volunteer my time. 

For me, this is not a race or a campaign against other candidates.  I will try to bring a different prospective to the group.  I did not live in Groton my whole life so I bring an outsiders view of town government.

Living in a city like Waterbury has shown me how good Groton has had it in past years.  However, the easy going times have become hard times, and the uncertainty is starting to affect how residents treat each other. 

The way to change that is not by battling over budgets, it's by creating new jobs.  Yes, while we work on creating new jobs there are inefficiencies in our government that need to be addressed.  I'm sure every candidate agrees on holding the line on spending.  

That will not be good enough; the next Town Council needs to look for long-term answers.  Groton is often viewed as a town that is unfriendly to businesses, and that is something I would like to see changed.   

What do you believe is the greatest challenge Groton faces today, and what would you do to meet this challenge?  We have relied on our old ways of doing business for too long.  We are a stagnant community, constantly fighting against change. 

We are forced to live with the possibility that any of our big three employers may downsize or leave. Now is the time to look for areas of opportunity that will help us stop the troubling trend of work force, and grand list reduction.  

While other towns will continue to struggle for decades to come, Groton has the resources, knowledge, and diversity in our community to push our way out of this recession. Groton needs to exploit the economic advantages that can come from recession, not use them as an excuse for stagnant development. 

Now is the time to reach out and work together.  Let's take hard looks at how we do business as a town, and make some tough changes.  I have had the pleasure of meeting some very talented people over the past two years with some good ideas that could help change the downward direction of Groton's economy. 

We need to start working with these ideas, and stop looking for potential flaws as reasons to vote against them.  I will continue to do what I have been doing.  I will work with other residents to bring ideas to the town council that will promote job growth, and new sustainable business.    

How would you rate the performance of the current board overall, and what, if anything, would you do differently?  Honestly, it is not fair for me to rate the other members of the council.  They may have done exactly what they came into office to do. 

I will say it was fun working with them, and I have learned a lot from their experience.  As for myself,  I'd say I did an average job for my first term in politics.  I don't think I made a big enough impact in any one area to call it a great term, but I did gain some good experience that I can use going forward. 

As far as the way I voted.  I don't think I would have made any great changes.  I would say that I probably would have worked on Phase II differently.  Not that I would have voted against sending it to referendum.  I will continue to send major issues to the voters regardless of my opinion of them. 

No my biggest mistake was not working with both sides.  This problem should not have been a "YES" vs. "NO".  This issue should have been answered with a "HOW."  Now we need to aggressively move that question forward. 

How do we work together to come up with a plan that brings safety and stability to our troubled school system?  How do we move forward and do the right thing for the children of Groton? As long as we continue to argue about the past, we will never be able to correct the future.