We reached out to both the Haddam Republican Town Committee and the Haddam Democratic Town Committee and asked candidates to respond to a set of questions. Updates from all candidates are welcome, and are being published as Letters to the Editor. This is one such letter.
The views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors of this newspaper.
Hello, my name is Marc Adelberg.  I was born and raised in Connecticut, and after living outside Connecticut when I started my career, I returned over 20 years ago.  I started a family with my wife of nearly 20 years, Courtney, and we have 3 school-age children.  We have lived in Higganum for the past 7 years. I obtained my bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and an MBA from New York University.  I currently work for Yale University as the Division Administrator of the Plastic Surgery group. I currently serve on the Finance Committee for the American Association of Surgical Administrators.
I believe in civic duty through volunteering.  When I lived in Bethany I was elected to the Planning and Zoning Commission for a couple terms and I served on the Board of Directors for the Land Trust. I have nearly 30 years of experience working for various companies, both private and public, and for academic institutions which gives me a unique perspective. I have been involved with growing businesses and making them more efficient. I have been responsible for budgets over $10 million and I am inherently a fiscally responsible person. I feel having worked on town boards before and my business experience, I have the skillset needed to make an impact on the Haddam Board of Finance.
We live in a small town that doesn’t have a large commercial tax base so that means revenues come mostly from us through our property taxes.  It is important that we use our precious dollars wisely.  Driving around town one will easily experience a huge priority for us all.  We need to properly fund improvements to our roads!  Due to underfunding over the last few years, we are behind schedule and we can no longer delay, or it will be even more costly to deal with.  There are also some timely opportunities, like what do we want the Higganum Center to be and what are we willing as a town to invest in its future.  One ongoing priority is to keep our financial books in order so we can maintain our AAA bond rating. This is something to be proud of and allows us to get very good interest rates on money that we borrow.
Haddam is a small-town community and I like that we are part of the Connecticut River Valley. We have an excellent school system which is one of the reasons we moved to Higganum a few years back. My kids have been involved with numerous sports over the years and I like talking and getting to know neighbors. There are many town events, from the yearly Haddam Neck Fair to the weekly Farmer’s Market where you can see the pride of the town displayed.
I pledge that I will work hard for transparency regarding the financials of the town and how decisions are arrived at.  I also has a personal goal that I want to champion and that is what can we do to make the finances more easily understandable for all by improving the way the information is presented.  I have done this for my entire career and would like to help accomplish this for our town.
I believe in stewardship which means I want to leave the town in better shape for the next generation.  Please vote in November and I ask for your support.  Thank you.
Marc Adelberg
Higganum, CT
You can find a link to the other Board of Finance candidates HERE.
