A Visit With Rudy

A Visit With Ridgefield's First Selectman

Rudy Marconi was elected the First Selectman in a landslide victory in November, 1999. When he was elected, his first priority was to bring to the job a vigor and a passion for the town and the job of First Selectman which had been missing over the years. He has re-created and re-defined the job which demands that he be available, informed, willing to work, energetic and decisive.

If you have ever considered what the daily demands of First Selectman might be, you probably assumed that his duties are administrative and ceremonial with some meetings at Town Hall to round out the day. Not for First Selectman Rudy Marconi.

This chronicle, compiled by accompanying Rudy Marconi as he went about the Town's business, demonstrates how Rudy spends his typical 12-16 hours per day on your behalf.

A benefit of arriving early is your choice of parking spaces.

Rudy tells us he's always been an early bird. So it's no surprise that he's usually the first one to arrive at Town Hall, anywhere between 7:00 and 7:30 AM. One of the few perks of office is the use of a Town car - you'll recognize it by the license plate: "RI 1" as in "Town of Ridgefield Number 1."

First one in has to unlock Town Hall.

"Optional additional duties" for the First Selectman include brewing the first pot of coffee in the morning.

When you're the first person in Town Hall, the only way you'll get coffee is to brew it yourself. Those who knew Rudy before he became First Selectman are pleased to see he hasn't changed - he's still the no-airs, hands-on, high-energy guy they've come to know and like over the years.

An early caller needs an appointment later in the week.

On this particular morning, Rudy has arrived before Assistant Reggie Hazel. Early phone calls are answered by Rudy personally: "Good morning - First Selectman's office." This caller wanted to see Rudy in a couple of days; the First Selectman made the appointment, being careful to update the appointment book that is the key to the complicated and chock-full schedule he keeps.

P&Z Commissioner Mike Autori visits with the First Selectman in his Town Hall office.

As you'd expect, a good deal of the First Selectman's time is spent in meetings - formal Board meetings, sessions with smaller groups, and one-on-one get togethers with other Town officials and employees, and with Ridgefielders from all parts of the community. This morning, Republican Planning and Zoning Commissioner Mike Autori has scheduled an early meeting. Mike and Rudy have worked together on planning and land use issues for years - Rudy served several terms on P&Z himself - and today Mike wants to review some aspects of the Town master plan with Rudy. The P&Z commissioner is particularly interested in the concept of a Ridgefield Greenway, linking together existing open spaces and Town lands to form a continuous development-free swath of land across town.

To make sure he's on top of the flow of daily Town expenses, Rudy is checking every invoice that hits the books.

Rudy has worked hard in his first months on the job to master the details of Ridgefield's town government. For a hands-on guy, that means digging into everything that affects the taxpayers and residents. Each morning, he checks invoices which have come through the day before - examining the Town's spending at the most basic level. He questions anything that doesn't make sense to him, often getting answers which satisfy him. When he doesn't, he takes action. Rudy figures it's tough enough asking taxpayers to fund Town government at a bare-bones level - we can't afford any wasteful or extravagant spending.

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