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Catching Up with Former First Selectman Lauren Gister

Former Chester First Selectman Lauren Gister’s cell phone was full of texts. People had heard she was back in Chester. She was delighted to see and hear from friends but sadness was the underpinning of her return. She was here for the funeral of her mother Natalie Lindstrom.

Gister was in her fourth term as Chester’s First Selectman when she resigned last January to become town manager of Carbondale, Colorado.

Her new position is not a political one.

“I am not supposed to be politically active as the town manager; I carry out what the mayor and the Board of Trustees decide; I am not the decider. I support the town, ” she says. The Board of Trustees, made up of seven members, is similar to Chester’s Board of Selectman.

What non-political means in practical terms is that Gister does not have to run for office.

“It’s a relief,” she said.

What’s more, Gister doesn’t have to have two jobs. In Chester, she maintained her private law practice evenings after her full work day at town hall.

“I couldn’t give it up because you have to run for election every two years, and so you never know what will happen.”

With a contract as town manager, all that has changed.

“I don’t have to juggle so many balls at once.” she said.

Still, moving across the country to a new job was a challenge.

“I didn’t know anyone; I had to learn a completely new job and it was a steep learning curve,” she said, “But I’ve always liked challenges,” she added, pointing out she had joined the United States Marines when she was 18.

Gister’s two daughters are also now in Carbondale. Sophie drove out with her mother and found a job at a marketing company. Maya has recently joined them.

A recruiter had first contacted Gister about the Carbondale job. She applied but was not selected for the second-round of interviews in which three candidates came to Carbondale for in-person sessions. She thought the process was over.

But none of the candidates were chosen. Three more people were invited to Carbondale, and Gister was selected from that group. She said that, unlike her, most of the people who become city and town managers have masters’ degrees in public administration.

Carbondale, about 45 minutes from the ski resort of Aspen where many of its residents work, is a town of about 6,500 people, larger than Chester in population but much smaller in size. The town is only 2 square miles.

Zoning, Gister said, is all about density, not about maintaining well-sized building lots. Rather, residents want to maintain the open spaces and ranch lands that surround the town.

Government responsibilities are divided differently between the town and the county government. The fire department, the library, and the schools are all managed by the county. The town government is in charge of police, finance, planning, and building, as well as municipal utilities.

These days, with Carbondale’s size, its public transportation and the abundance of bike trails, Gister is not automobile dependent. She walks to work. Her house is only some 300 yards from her office.

“If my car leaves the driveway more than once a week it is unusual,” she said.

According to Gister, affordable housing is one of Carbondale’s most pressing issues at the moment. She found a place to live through a note she posted on Facebook.

Chester will always be part of Gister’s world. She lived in Chester for 25 years, which she said is more than she has ever lived anywhere else in her life.

“It’s fun to be back, to see what new stores there are, what changes and what has stayed the same. Chester is a place that I will always take with me. I miss a lot of people here and I miss the community itself,” she said.

Still, there is one indisputable fact about Carbondale that Gister, moved to Connecticut from Southern California when she was in ninth grade, pointed out.

“Carbondale,” she said, “has 300 days of sun a year.”