“Thirty-two years ago, as a young veteran and father of two preschool children I moved into Orange, and immediately became immersed in our community: the Orange Community Nursery School, Turkey Hill PTA, the Orange Players Association, serving twice as its president and many times as a show producer; the Orange Soccer Association where I also served as president and long-time coach then referee, the Town Long-Range Planning Committee, the Holy Infant Church choir, and when the Paugussetts brought land claims lawsuits against 100 Orange homeowners serving as the president of the Homeowners Held Hostage, and now in the Orange Chamber of Commerce, and in the Orange Lions Club, serving in every Club office. You can tell it’s not enough for me just to join, I have to be involved.
My professional training and 36 years experience as a lawyer--most of that time managing a law firm gives me a deep understanding of the role of law in government, and the proper and limited role of government in the lives of the people, but my love for this town has led me here tonight.
Tonight I announce my candidacy for First Selectman of the Town of Orange. I want to thank the members of the Democratic Town Committee who have encouraged me to run for First Selectman. I am humbled by the prospect that, if elected, I will have the duty to ensure that our town government serves all the people . I pledge to work to my full capacity to fulfill the responsibilities of the office of First Selectman with integrity, with the mission of improving the lives of all its residents.
I have already been asked, “Why do you want to run for First Selectman?” It’s not because I want to wear out four pairs of shoes campaigning door to door. The answer is: I truly love Orange, and I have the vision and the skills to lead our community forward to a promising and better future.
Orange is a great place to live and raise our families. It has an abundance of beauty, a scenic town green, lovely parks and ponds, woods and fields, and picturesque farms, schools where educational excellence is the norm, shopping, dining, and some amazing residents. Orange is also a great place in which to do business. Our location near major highways, our competitive tax rate, our high standard of education, all make Orange an attractive site to locate or expand a business. We also have a substantial amount of as yet undeveloped property already zoned for commercial or light industrial use that needs to be aggressively marketed. We need to capitalize on our unique location and attributes to expand our commercial tax base. Until we do many homeowners will see property tax increases.
As First Selectman I will reach out to businesses locally, regionally and internationally to let them know Orange a great place to do business and we will do whatever we can to make them feel welcome. Our goal must be to attract appropriate new businesses into Orange, to create opportunities for commercial growth, not just sit by and hope and wait for it to arrive. Economic Development is not a passive activity.
Orange also has a responsibility to serve the growing number of senior citizens, most of whom are homeowners. As they advance in age, many of our seniors have difficulty remaining in their homes, either because they can’t physically maintain them or can’t afford to . They want to remain in the town where they raised their children, but when they seek senior housing many find that there isn’t a place they can afford or that provides the services that they need. In our campaign we will examine the best way to create senior housing, either through a public/private partnership or other means, so that every one of our seniors who wants to remain in Orange can find senior housing with the services necessary for independent living. Many of our seniors have been life-long residents and taxpayers, and we owe them the opportunity to remain living in Orange as long as they want.
Our third initiative will be to adopt efficiencies that are already in practice in the private sector and modernize the operation of the town’s government. This will include a broad number of areas: from fully integrated financial and other computer systems, model human resources practices; new school security systems, and a State-of-the-Art communications system, that allows a transparent and continuous flow of information and communication between town government officials and its citizens.
This is my vision, making Orange better by improving our tax base with new businesses, creating housing for seniors, and modernizing government. During this campaign--which will remain an open and honest discussion of ideas on our part I will knock on a lot of doors and speak to as many citizens as I can. I want to make clear to everyone: my vision of Orange isn’t about tearing down what so many have contributed before us. It’s about making new choices and emphasizing new initiatives, about continuing what has worked well in the past, and creating new opportunities for our citizens where the need exists. But, most importantly, it’s about letting the voters in Orange know that they have a clear choice: either we can wait for change to come, or we can be the agents of that change. I cannot do this alone. I will need your time, your talents and your financial resources to run our campaign, but first I will need your endorsement at the July caucus. I invite you to join me and the other Democratic candidates both now and after the election in making Orange the best it can be. I invite you to join the Lenz team - it’s the clear choice for Orange.
Thank you all for the opportunity of speaking with you this evening.”
— Ken Lenz
