Wallingford Town Council Vice Chairman

I’m Tom Laffin and I’ve lived in Wallingford my entire life. I attended Holy Trinity and Xavier then left Wallingford to attend and graduate from college with a degree in Political Science. I returned home to Wallingford, where I’ve remained, to raise my two beautiful children, Jack and Abby. As my children grew, I decided to commit myself to public service and take on an active role in making Wallingford the town people want live in, work in, raise their families in, and pursue their dreams in. I started on the Inland & Wetlands Commission then was elected to two terms on the Board of Education. In 2011, I was elected onto the Town Council and became the Vice-Chairman in 2013. I am currently serving my 6th term and, this election season, hope to be re-elected for a 7th term. Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure to meet, and interact with, the citizens of this town and am always left with a distinct feeling of honor and a responsibility to keep their best interests in mind when doing my part in Wallingford’s government.

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MY POLITICAL OPINIONS

Police Station

I have supported the construction of a new police station each step of the way. The current Armory that serves as the Police Department’s headquarters is now too small for our growing force. The new location will provide easy and quick access to all areas of the town and updated office, training, and locker facilities.

What to do with the Armory (the current Police Station)?

There are a few uses that I could see and support the armory being used for. For certain, updates will need to be made and that will be much easier to not just assess but to perform once the police department has moved out. Good ideas I have heard so far are use for the Board of Education office, Adult Education, and/or the Parks and Rec Department as a downtown program hub.

Community Pool

I think the Community Pool Park needs to be reborn. A splash pad, new smaller pool, a new bathhouse, better parking with room for food truck parking, nicer green space and maybe even more pickleball courts. We have an excellent bond rating and we should take advantage of that and bond the project.

High School(s)

I have always been a two school guy, but that being said, it would be irresponsible, from the position of councilor, however, to have a hard, without question, position on this because the Board of Education elected to make sure we have the best and most efficient school system we can, and they have administrators working that every single day. I am trying to keep an open mind so that I can judge each plan on it’s merits, and that’s how I intend to look at it - plan by plan, proposal by proposal. But I can tell you it’s going to have to be the RIGHT plan to merge the schools - a combination of building, location, and timing because that’s what Wallingford deserves. If we are gonna break from two schools, then I believe it’s going to be a plan where at least most people are like “oh…yeah, I can see that…I guess that can work”.

Train Station

The Historic Train Station is the only property owned by the town that I would consider and am considering for commercial lease. I think the building itself is too important to our community to give up, but it’s location and potential is too great to just let it sit there looking like a cool old building in the center of town. I have been working for years as one of the council liaisons to the Plan OF Conservation Development Committee (POCD) with meetings and connecting dots between departments and committees to transform this location and we are almost there. Of course, it goes without saying that the Adult Education program currently using some of the space must have a new home first, and we, we good “landlords” will repair and restore our share of the building per any lease agreement.

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Paid for by Laffin for Council, Daryll Porto, Treasurer