Mollow Wants a Better Branford

Representative Town Meeting (RTM) member Lynda Mollow (pictured) wants to engage the public in town decisions before they are made, get more folks to move to Branford, make greater use of the Branford River as a town treasure, and work hard to keep our coastline resilient.

Mollow, 49, a nurse for 20 years, is seeking her first town-wide position on the Democratic ticket for the town’s top office. She is running with Jack Ahern, the current Third Selectman, who served as Branford’s fire chief for many years. Ahern, a popular town official, is seeking his third two-year-term. 

The first selectwoman or first selectman is the town’s top executive and serves as the chair of the three-member Board of Selectmen. 

Mollow has long been active in community life, introducing the national ​“Fuel UP to Play 60” nutrition and physical activity programs in public schools in Branford and East Haven. She also serves on the board of directors of the Community Dining Room. She hopes her commitment to public life will resonate with voters when they go to the polls Nov. 7.

She and her husband, Dr. Michael Mollow, have called Branford home for the past 15 years. They have two children, a son and a daughter.

The Eagle recently sat down with Mollow to ask her some questions about local issues.

Eagle: What is one of your major goals if you are elected?

Mollow: ​“One of my major goals is to try to improve the amount of information and the way that information is delivered to the public. My concern is that a lot of people are disconnected from activities and projects happening in town because they are not aware of what the plans are and they are not aware as to how they may have input into the decision making. The town website should be our source of public information. It is not set-up well. I know there are other towns that do a better job. People should be able to find information they need. And there’s another problem. We have a lot of boards and commissions and a lot of town departments and we also have the RTM and the first selectman’s office, and many people do not know where they should go. Some people are concerned that if they have a complaint their concerns will not reach the right person, especially when they don’t hear back. People complain they have to keep going back again and again to get the answers.”

Eagle: How can Branford continue to counter the state’s budget woes? The town borrowed this time from its fund balance in order to set its budget and the mill rate. Will that become a way of life?

Mollow: ​“We have learned from other towns that it is a slippery slope once you start taking money from your fund balance to give a cushion to the taxpayers. So we would need to at this point really be cautious about how we do our own public spending. We made a lot of decisions for the Walsh Intermediate School and the Community House-Senior Center before we knew the true state of the state. So we need to look at our contribution to those projects and see if we can be a little more cautious on how we spend money on those projects. We also need to be more self sustaining with the way we address the state. So the next time we have a storm we need to know if we will be able to count on state money. In the past we have had funds available, but that may not be the case coming from the state. We need to be cautious in the way we take out the credit card… the current bonding is 20 years out.”

Eagle:There is concern among the public about the Walsh Intermediate School project. What happens if the $30 million in state funding is less? What is your position to the BOF and RTM who will have to review any new state decision? Would the project be downsized?

Mollow: ​“I would ask the Public Building Commission, who have been very involved in this project, and the architects and the construction people if there are components to the project that we could scale back on. We all agree we need to improve the environment of Walsh. It is a very busy place. We need it to be a better facility.

“I don’t think it would be good idea to put it on hold at this point. We have put a lot of resources into project development right now. We have also have a lot of people in place to make the project work, but we need to take a look at the size and the scope. When you plan a project you want to get as much as you can out of it. If you don’t ask then it won’t be there. Maybe we need to take a look at some space, say the new BOE administrative offices in there. Maybe this is not the right time to do that. The large auditorium may not be something we need to commit to. It may take some creative planning to restructure.

​“We were told we would get more money if we were renovating rather than building new. And we wanted to keep the large gym and the small gym and the pool. We would not get that in a new school. You need to consider what the needs are for the school and the community and try within those.”

Eagle: Your opponent Jamie Cosgrove campaigned to bring Costco to Branford to increase the commercial tax base. But Costco bowed out. What are your plans to increase the tax base?

Mollow: ​“I am interested in the Transit Oriented Development project (TOD) that is happening in town. It is a very exciting process. Now we will have development where we want to have it, both housing and retail. There will be restaurants and retail and probably a lot of changes are going to happen along Meadow Street with the intention of young people moving to town and using the trains to New Haven and to New York. We will have more people moving to Branford. 

“I am also excited by the possibility of tourism as a way to bring more money into the town by sharing our town with people. We see what has happened with the Stony Creek Brewery. It’s become a destination point. It’s very popular. Its owner is considering opening a boutique hotel. You want to capitalize on that. We have a lot to offer people who come to Branford. We have a gorgeous town green and the Blueway Trail along the Branford River. Maybe we should offer people a one-day package if you come by train. We need a tourism board in town, and I would be interested in creating that. There are great possibilities.”

Eagle: Looking nationwide there has been a backlash to action taken by Trump and the Republican Congress. Do you think that will have any impact on the local elections?

Mollow:​“Yes. People are now understanding that their vote counts locally. Because of what is happening at other levels of state and national politics they are starting to realize that they can’t count on ethical and sometimes moral and intelligent decisions to be made. So if they have those concerns they should voice them as often as possible. If it is going to public meetings or organized groups that are trying to be part of a resistance, people are much more engaged in what’s happening around them than they were two years ago.

“They are also more interested in voting. They are saying to themselves that I need to make my voice count. They are definitely voting in their local election this year. This national election has been like an awakening. People realize they have to pay more attention. In Hotchkiss Grove the other day, one woman ran after me after I left a card at her house. She said, ​‘I need to talk to you. We can’t not pay attention anymore. We have to be a part of everything.’”

Eagle: Do you think it is time for the town to regionalize some services. Can towns share certain aspects of police and fire work or some education services in order to help cut town budgets?

Mollow: ​“Jack and I talked about that during the campaign and we agree it is a good idea for some services. But often towns want control over every aspect of operation. There was an effort to merge the Branford and North Branford 911 call center. And there was an effort to have towns share a required ladder truck. Neither worked but they could be revisited. But it has worked very, very well with our animal shelter and the community dining room serves many towns. So does the Y and BHCares. You have to be creative.”

Eagle: The town has been renting a building for the public works department since March 2011. What is your plan for a new public works building and why has it taken so long?

Mollow: ​“Originally there was a committee that was about to find a location and they had identified several possible locations in the past and I would revisit those locations and others to see what can be done to get a home for public works. We also need to build the department up to what it needs in human resources. We don’t have a director right now. To this day the top job at Public Works has not been posted.” (The former Public Works Director Tom Brennan gave notice of his resignation in Dec. 2016. The town website lists his job as ​“vacant.”) 

“It is hard to understand the motivation for that because you would want to have someone with the qualifications that previous leaders have had. You want someone to independently operate that division and satisfy the goals of that department and if you don’t have somebody who is doing that then no one is accountable. Who is running the show at Public Works? It is a crucial department. They are first responders. (The second in command was Joe Lentini, the Public Works supervisor, who quit in Dec. 2016 as well. The current Public Works supervisor is Gary Zielinski, a former top Cosgrove Construction manager. Zielinski was hired by the town as Cosgrove Construction closed and became the Public Works supervisor as 2016 ended.)

Eagle: What else would you like people to know about you?

Mollow: We live in a town that lies on Long Island Sound and many of the people I talked to going door-to door live in places where their homes may be threatened. They can see the land simply sinking. I want the town of Branford to have a strong leadership team to address rising sea issues. I want the public to become more engaged in coastal resilience issues. I want them to become galvanized. If we don’t, we will end up being a town that reacts to problems instead of a town that is pro-active.”
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