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09/06/2023 11:03 AMWe all have maintenance plans for our homes, our yards, our cars, and our bodies. Regular checks catch problems when they are small and avoid the “surprise” of sudden large repair bills.
This year, tri-town taxpayers were asked to vote on large bond issuance requests to repair and extend athletic fields at our regional schools. Would the size of this request have been necessary had the funds and work hours been regularly scheduled yearly over the past 20 years to maintain the fields and athletic equipment? We’ll never know because there has not been a consistent, quality, maintenance mindset driving our facilities and property management. This is just one large, obvious example.
Regularly scheduled inspections and structured maintenance and repair schedules are common sense and a respectful way of managing, containing, and planning for needed maintenance and replacement costs. Many of our parents and grandparents lived through the Great Depression—an experience that forever shaped their outlook on spending and saving money and keeping everything they owned in good repair. They lived with a maintenance mindset.
If voters elect me this November to be First Selectwoman of Deep River, I plan to look closely at every property the Town owns. I will look at each building and property’s current review and maintenance schedule and assess the life of the various elements of the property. I will work closely with our school boards and leadership to ensure that they keep a keen focus on property maintenance and cost control. We need to start seriously maintaining what we have, repairing where we can, and putting aside money for the repairs and replacements we know will be due in the next several years. We must foster a maintenance mindset and live within an economic reality that doesn’t break the bank or mortgage our futures.
Kathryn Russell
Deep River
Kathryn Russell is the Republican candidate for First Selectwoman in the November election.