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10/13/2023 07:45 AMNo need for a tracking device or a GPS locator to know where Richard Strauss will be on Oct. 26 at 6:30 in the evening. He will be at a meeting at the Chester Town Offices on Middlesex Avenue. And he is anxious for the residents of Chester to be there with him.
That is because Richard is the chair of the seven-person commission writing a charter for the town of Chester, and the group will present a preliminary draft of the document on Thursday, Oct. 26.
Richard emphasizes the preliminary draft is not a final document, and the purpose of the meeting is to introduce the community to the work the commission has been doing.
Current plans call for the charter to be voted on by Chester residents in the November 2024 election.
General concerns about the increasing complexity of local government, along with an issue specific to Chester, the unexpected resignation of First Selectman Lauren Gister in 2022, led first to the Board of Selectmen (BOS) to create a Governance Study Committee to examine the existing structure of town government.
“We were charged with exploring options, identifying and analyzing alternate government structures,” says Richard, who was also a member of the Governance Study Committee.
That committee, in turn, recommended the creation of the Charter Commission. Other members of the commission include Lol Fearon, Pat Holloway, Ian McLachlan, Mark Borton, Jesse Gnazzo, and Brian Dailey.
There are two ways that towns are run in Connecticut, either by a charter or by the selectman-town meeting model. Statewide, some 33% of towns operate on the selectman-town meeting model, while 67% have charters.
Operating with a charter, Richard points out, provides flexibility in the way in which the town organizes its government.
The provisional draft charter calls for the expansion of the BOS from three to seven members and to increase the term of office from two to four years. Of the seven, only four could be from the majority party. Richard explains that expanding the BOS would increase the group’s range of expertise and would provide a structure that ensures more continuity in town management.
The expanded BOS would incorporate the duties of the Board of Finance, and there would also be an additional financial advisory panel.
The preliminary draft, furthermore, calls for a town administrator to manage the community’s day-to-day operations.
According to Richard, copies of the preliminary draft will be available on the town website, and he expects a specific link to the document will be sent in a town-wide email before the Oct. 26 meeting.
Richard has long been involved in government in Chester. He is now serving on the Regional District 4 Board of Education for the third time, this time appointed by the board in the slot of a member who resigned. He is running unopposed for the seat in the upcoming November election. In his two previous terms, he served as both chair and vice chair of the group.
Richard has also served as chair of the Board of Finance, chair and vice chair of the Water Pollution Control Authority, and as a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals.
With his wife Leslie, he has even written a book that has achieved an iconic local status: Outhouses of Connecticut.
Richard grew up in Roslyn Heights, Long Island. That is where he first met Leslie, a neighbor, when both were children.
“I think it was just osmosis,” he says of their ultimate marriage.
He started college as a chemistry major at the University of Wisconsin and ended up, several college stops later, as a political science major at Nathaniel Hawthorne College in New Hampshire. (The college has since closed.) What really interested him in college, however, were the aviation classes. He got both a private pilot license and, later, a commercial license.
He became a flight instructor at Nathaniel Hawthorne and later oversaw aviation programs at the University of New Haven (UNH), where he was an assistant dean for both the School of Engineering and the School of Professional Studies. He also directed a program to interest minority high school students in careers in engineering and technology.
While at UNH, Richard earned a master’s degree in public administration.
He came to Chester as a result of the UNH job. At the time, UNH was trying to set up an aviation program in cooperation with Mitchell College in New London, then a junior college. Richard was looking for a place to live between New Haven and New London. He and Leslie saw an advertisement for a rental in Chester, but by the time they called, the house was taken. But not for long. They got a second call saying the prospective tenants had backed out. They lived in the rental for one year before buying the house, where they have lived in Chester for over 40 years.
Richard’s career also brought him to state government as deputy transportation commissioner with the Bureau of Aviation and Ports for the State of Connecticut. He served in the post from 1991 to 1995 and ultimately retired after 17 years as head of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. The organization does research in response to requests from both state agencies and the General Assembly.
In retirement, beyond his community involvement, he is a photographer with a particular interest in shooting photos for the Valley Regional Booster Clubs of athletic activities, inspired by his grandchildren’s participation in lacrosse, field hockey, and golf.
Richard and Leslie have two daughters and six grandchildren.
He himself golfs and likes to read nonfiction, usually biographies of presidents and explorers.
He won’t be reading biographies at
6:30 p.m. on Oct. 26. He will be in Chester Town Hall to present the preliminary draft of the charter.
And he hopes he will not be alone.
“We want to see people,” he says. “We really do.”