{news} Profile of CT Green elected official- Jean DeSmet

[Tim McKee]

First Selectman's Goal: A More User-Friendly Windham
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By REGINE LABOSSIERE | The Hartford Courant
      December 22, 2008

Jean de Smet

Jean de Smet, now Windham's first selectman, is shown here in October
2006, when she was running for lieutenant governor on the Green Party
ticket. She is a master electrician. (MICHAEL MCANDREWS / HARTFORD
COURANT / October 31, 2006)


When Jean de Smet was elected last year as Windham's first selectman, she
said she wanted to shake up the office by turning "town hall into a
public service."

De Smet's goal almost was overshadowed by her triumph. She was the first
Green Party candidate to be elected first selectman in the largely
Democratic town. Third-party candidates rarely succeed in getting
elected, but de Smet got the win by rallying voters around a specific
issue. She beat Windham's three-term Democratic First Selectman Michael
Paulhus by campaigning to make local government more open to the public
and to give residents easier access to town hall.

In the year since, de Smet has made town hall and local government more
user-friendly, she and others who work with her said recently. De Smet
said one of the first items she tackled was making the town website more
informative and organizing training sessions for department heads so they
could regularly update their own websites.

"We're trying to make it so we're user-friendly. Perhaps you can go on
the website and get the information you need instead of possibly having
to come in," de Smet said.

The board of selectmen also has created numerous subcommittees
encouraging input from residents, business owners and town officials.
Some of the subcommittees focus on renewable energy, the senior center
and community engagement. De Smet said the subcommittees were formed to
"allow the members of the community to have their ideas and move them
forward. That's different, I think, than most other towns."

De Smet said she realizes she hasn't been able to give much of her
attention to everything that needs improvement in Windham, including
improving downtown Willimantic. But de Smet said she hopes to change
that. She held a meeting recently with downtown business owners and
organization leaders to discuss downtown growth.

Nancy Tinker, president of Thread City Development Corp. who helped work
on the town's facade improvement program, said de Smet has been
instrumental in getting more residents involved in local government.

"She hasn't lost any of her enthusiasm, which I worried about because
that's the kind of job that can get you down after a while. There's so
many people who say 'no.' She's very open to taking input from people in
the town and listening to them. She has certainly opened the doors to
city hall," Tinker said.

De Smet's first win as first selectman will be her last. The town is
changing its form of government to have a town manager when de Smet's
two-year term ends. She said she might consider running for mayor or even
applying for the town manager job, but she's not looking that far ahead
yet.

"I'm working on my campaign promises. I look at them frequently to remind
myself what direction we're going in and it's all about finding the
priorities," de Smet said. "It's been a whirlwind year and it's going to
take a lot of energy and strength, but a lot of people are with me."

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Copyright © 2008, The Hartford Courant


******************************************
Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282
 National Committee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT.
BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com

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