Potential candidates emerge in Stonington first selectman’s race

— Two residents are exploring their candidacy for this November’s race for first selectman.

Bryan Bentz, owner of Bentz Engineering and Board of Finance member, filed State Elections Enforcement Commission paperwork with the Town Clerk on March 3 and is seeking the nomination from the Republican Town Committee.

“It kind of fits where I am in life right now,” he said on Tuesday of his decision to run. “It makes sense from a personal perspective.”

Bentz, who was appointed to the Board of Finance last fall, previously spent 19 years on the board from 1998 to 2017, before taking a break from town service to address family and personal obligations.

“Part of the reason I’m running is I have the experience to do it right and the perspective to do it right. I’ve been here long enough to know the issues both short term and long term,” he said, adding, “one of the main duties of the first selectman is to put together the budget, and I’ve had a fair amount of experience with that.”

He explained that his experience has also given him an understanding of many issues in town.

“Anything in the town that requires money, has to go through the Board of Finance, so you end up learning about every aspect, from waste disposal to any municipal service, and I kind of find that really interesting, so that’s sort of what the motivator is here,” he said.

He said he is still developing an official platform.

“Part of what I’m doing is talking to people around town to find out what’s needed. It’s an ongoing process and will be for a few months,” he said.

He is currently advocating within the finance board to send each taxpayer a letter comparing their current assessment, tax rate, and tax bill to what they would face with the proposed budget. That letter would be sent out before the budget referendum.

He believes the effort would help create transparency about how the budget process works and how it impacts taxpayers.

He ideally wants to also include a graphic, such as a pie chart, that details where tax dollars are being spent.

“There’s nothing partisan about it — it doesn’t say vote for the budget or vote against it; it doesn’t say anything like that, it just says ‘here’s the information,’ so we’ll see if that happens. I hope it does because I want people to know what’s going on,” he said.

He said he believes in consensus building and not allowing tangential issues, which may heighten emotions, to factor into decisions.

“I think what the voters might like is they can trust in decent stewardship,” he said, adding that he has a deep love for the town and his experience growing up here with its rich, unique history.

“That’s really the deep motivation. As I say, you don’t do it for fame or fortune,” he said. “You don’t do this to be in the history books; you do this to make things right and be a careful steward of the place.”

Pawcatuck resident Laura Graham has expressed interest in being a candidate for first selectman to the Democratic Town Committee.

On Tuesday, she said she was reluctant to speak about her potential candidacy because she has not yet made the final decision to run, but ultimately, she would like to demystify the process for others and encourage them to become involved as well.

“For me, it’s really important to take this process through the steps,” she said, explaining that the decision is a weighty one which has significant implications for her business and family and she is taking the process slowly.

First Selectman Danielle Chesebrough, an unaffiliated voter who ran unopposed for a second term in 2021 after being endorsed by both parties, said Tuesday that she has not made a decision about whether she will seek reelection.

“I’m happy to see people in the community engaging and that we have people expressing an interest in running for office. It’s a challenging job, and I hope we hear from more people interested in running for all our local positions,” she said.