Dear Editor,
My name is Deborah Wright. I am running for Bellows Falls Village President this May 19. It is a position I have held in the past, proudly serving the community. Bellows Falls, as all of you know, is the beating heart of Rockingham, a welcoming place for all with so much to offer and so much more in its future with the right leadership. I believe that is myself.
In the last decade I have consistently done my homework and honored my oaths to my community, in every instance. My municipal experience is extensive: Bellows Falls Village Trustees Board, as both president and trustee; Rockingham Planning Commission, as both planning chair and commissioner; along with many appointments to committees and subcommittees since 2011. As a 23-plus-year business owner in Bellows Falls in the utility-construction industry, my business expertise provides background in finance, attracting candidates, negotiating, and road safety unmatched by the other candidates.
In addition, I am a Rockingham justice of the peace, a member of Rockingham’s Thermal Energy Network (TEN), and an active voting member of both The Vermont League of Cities and Towns’ (VLCT) equity committee and the Vermont Opioid Settlement Committee. I listen to every citizen in Rockingham and its villages to understand their concerns, allowing me to formulate clearly what next steps are needed to provide a stronger, safer future for our residents. I also provide direction to citizens for next steps to address their concerns.
In addition to the points mentioned above, I possess more years of experience, honed by time, have a better understanding of the challenges we face, and the vision to find solutions to these challenges, all while reducing the burden on our taxpayers by eliminating waste and redundancies. If your home needed improvements, would you simply go to your bank and ask for more money? Or would you first determine what frugalities and course corrections could be made to achieve your goals and then create a path to accomplishing them with the least resources needed? I do feel the current board is out of touch with its voters.
Thus far, a list of accomplishments: While serving on the village board I have moved the needle many times, from the fire department’s early transformation from a union entity (which ironically paved the way to its current municipal structure); to the conceptualization of the Firemen’s Memorial Park as a planning grant brick-and-mortar project; to the push for a mechanism to create a forward-thinking, biologically sound wastewater alternative to sludge hauling with the sludge-drying system.
If this was not limited in scope and time, I would include a few of my future improvement ideas for Bellows Falls. Above all else, I love Bellows Falls and its people.
What we need: lower property taxes and utility rates, measured housing construction, improved community safety, fair and equitable treatment of all citizens in Bellows Falls, and alternative energy plans to provide a safety net for future hazardous events.
Bellows Falls needs a strong, forward-looking president who will guide its trustees to make the best choices for all its citizens. Please provide me with the opportunity to demonstrate this for all residents at the polls on May 19.
Paid for by Deborah Wright
Bellows Falls, Vt.