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10/19/2021 02:30 PMRepublican candidate for first selectman Bruce Wilson was the CEO and COO of Aplicare, Inc., in Meriden, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company. He has been doing turn-around consulting for many years helping companies to successfully right their businesses. He was first elected to the Board of Selectman in 2015. He had a short hiatus from the board when he finished behind fellow Republicans Erin Duques and former first selectmen Tom Banisch in the 2019 election. He quickly rejoined the board when Banisch resigned in January 2020.
Wilson also has significant experience working on a number of Madison town committees as well including three years of service on the Board of Education, and he also currently serves as a liaison to the Economic Development Commission, the Beach & Recreation Commission, and the Ambulance Board of Directors. Wilson ran unsuccessfully to unseat former state senator Ted Kennedy twice in 2014 and again in 2016.
Why Wilson is running:
“One of the key things people need to know is that all leadership is service and the easiest way to visualize this is an inverted pyramid. So the leadership is not at the top of the pyramid at the point; the pyramid is upside down and the leadership exists to support the rest of the organization. What I’ve discovered on my journey is businesses have different priorities and that government may have different priorities than business, but people are people and leadership is leadership and these are the same principles.
“Leadership in business or government is in reality pretty much the same. People need to understand where they’re going, they need to understand why they are going there, and they need to understand their role in the journey. And it’s the leader’s job to always be delivering those messages. The town as an organization is a service provider and the taxpayers are customers, the town’s business is not to make a profit, it needs to deliver the services that the people want and deliver that in the most efficient way. Most importantly, it needs to make sure are not just efficient but actually providing the benefit they were intended to provide.
“I think I am ready to run. I think that my many years of service as a volunteer have really prepared me with a deep understanding of how the town works. A lifetime of living here grounds me in what it is to be ‘Madison.’ Professionally, I manage teams and people and organizations so the intersection of my experiences and my skills really put me into a position to do this. I am an enthusiastic and passionate volunteer and I think we can do better. I am fortunate enough to be in at a point in my life where I can step up and take on this role and be this resource for the community.”
Why residents should consider voting Republican:
“I think that local elections need to be about the best person and who is really the best qualified. I would put my credentials up against my opponent any day. In my professional experience, I have had to get things done, I have had to move organizations forward. I have had to manage groups that have had to manage groups with competing interests. The path forward is always with balance.
“I am disappointed with the lack of accomplishments the last two years. This Board of Selectman has accomplished virtually nothing. This is not a part-time or ceremonial job-there is no fame and fortune. This is about indebtedness and service. Don’t let your national thoughts or even your state thoughts cloud your judgment when making decisions about your local volunteers and your local elected officials. Forget the party construct.
“Madison was my home as a child and I returned in 1992 to raise my family here. As a young father, I trusted the dedicated volunteers in town government to keep Madison strong and safe. For the last 10 years, it has been my great honor to be one of those volunteers. My professional career and past town service have prepared me well to help navigate Madison forward into the future as your next first selectman.”
The biggest challenges:
“I have heard anecdotally that morale at Town Hall is at an all-time low. And I know that we have lost staff and as a manager who has a very people-forward mindset, I think that one of my first duties is taking stock of the state of morale and state of affairs at Town Hall. Taxpayers should care about morale at Town Hall. I worry about that, so that’s an important job to do right out of the gate.
“I also would like to get projects back on a path to completion and provide visibility to the town on when they are going to be completed. The big ones are Academy, the downtown project, and then we have to create a pathway for the schools to make a case for their capital expenses and make sure the taxpayers have all the information they need to make a responsible choice on any referendum. We need to engage in real capital planning in this town.”