Meet Denise Hall: Republican Candidate for West Hartford Town Council

Name: Denise Berard Hall
Age: 53
Party, Board Seeking: Republican Candidate for Town Council
Family information: Husband Tom, Children: Lindsey Salomonsson (married to Steve) and TJ Hall (married to Abby) and grandchildren Jake, Will and Britta Salomonsson and Teagan & Tommy Hall
Occupation, if applicable: SVP, Treasury Sales, Webster Bank
Political Experience: WH Town Council Minority Leader since 11/09
Other Experience: I am currently a member of UCONN’s CLAS Dean’s Advisory Board and Nichol’s College Women’s Leadership Advisory Board. I previously volunteered on the Town’s Risk Management Advisory Board, Investment Advisory Committee, as Treasurer of the Veterans Memorial Committee and as President of the Board of Trustees of Mercy Housing & Shelter.

Why did you run for office? I wanted to continue to volunteer in West Hartford, and I thought the best way to serve the town was to put my financial background to use on the Council. I grew up here, and attended Duffy, Sedgwick and Conard High School. I want to be able to retire here and want to help make it more affordable for our parents and our children to live here.

If elected, what would be your primary areas of focus? We have 21 collective bargaining units in town, 9 of them covering Town employees. We need to obtain realistic terms in the contracts that reflect the realities of today and our residents’ ability to pay for these benefits that are overly generous. We must eliminate pension spiking, increase employee contributions towards pension and health care plans and adopt defined contribution plans.

What do you feel is the biggest issue facing West Hartford today? Our unfunded liabilities that are the result of promises made in employee contracts that were not adequately funded over the years.  We have always made the contribution required by the actuaries, but that still has left us with a $189 million unfunded pension liability as of July 1, 2013.  Each year we will have to put more and more aside to help pay that debt – from $1 million ten years ago to $16 million today. That is money we won’t be able to spend on services or education.

What skills do you have that you could bring to the community? In my professional career, I have worked with municipalities issuing debt and investing general funds, established a municipal securities dealership, attended Government Finance Officers Association meetings for over 25 years, and regularly attend CT Public Pension Forums. This background makes me uniquely qualified to address what I feel is our biggest issue and why I ask for your vote on November 5th!