Some people are born political. Take Kurt Miller, the 41-year-old lifelong Seymour resident who is running as a Republican for First Selectman.
“I forget what age I was, but I remember seeing a bunch of political signs on lawns, and I always wondered what it would take to be a person with their name on a sign,” Miller said.
By the age of 16 or 17, he was active in Seymour High School’s student council. And, believe it or not — Miller dreamed of being First Selectman one day.
That day may be close.
Miller, 41, has amassed a resume of experience in town government that includes being the former chairman of the Board of Finance and current member of the Board of Selectmen.
But he says he has more than government experience going for him. He is quick to point out that his experiences from the business world will help make him a good First Selectman.
He is a licensed funeral director, with the Miller-Ward Funeral Home, a family business.
“In the funeral home, you learn very quickly to work with people in difficult and trying situations. The death of a loved one is not an easy thing, and sometimes they’re not themselves. You deal with people in the proper way, and that has helped me with the people aspect that comes along with politics,” Miller said during an interview on the campaign trail.
Miller is also an account relationship manager for the CUNA Mutual Group, servicing hundreds of credit unions.
“Talking about insurance, finance and risk management, I have a strong understanding of business principals,” he said.
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Click here for biographical information about Miller.
Issues
On a recent night on the campaign trail, Miller, dressed in a crisp gray suit, talked to senior citizens at the Callahan House.
He made a point of telling them he had no promises to make.
Rather, he said the entire focus of his campaign is about fundamentals — the fundamental of running Seymour, which he identified as accountability, short and long-term strategic and financial plans, infrastructure and capital improvements, efficiencies within town government, town beautification and community service.
He expanded on those ideas during an interview in the local McDonald’s, sipping a cup of strawberry lemonade on one of the last days of summer.
“I’m not going to make wild promises. I’m going to stick to the core essentials,” Miller said. “Those are the things we need to look at. If you are a business owner and looking to relocate, the question we need to ask ourselves is why are these businesses not coming here?”
He wants the town to boost its image by cleaning the weeds from the downtown, repairing the cracks in the roads, unclogging the catch basins.
“We need to take time and make Seymour a good product again,” Miller said.
To Miller, the strength of Seymour is its people.
“This is a hard-working community. A lot is done by volunteers,” he said, referring to organizations like Little League, Pop Warner, Youth Soccer and Seymour Pink.
“It’s just the conception of people in the community coming together working for a goal. We need to focus on that energy and apply it to the community as a whole,” Miller said.
And what Miller wants those people to know about him, when he walks through neighborhoods and knocks on doors on weekends, is that he is a hard worker like they are.
He’s looking to win the old-fashioned way. Social media and websites are great — but the way a challenger gets elected in a small town is face-to-face.
Miller estimated he had reached 1,000 households on his campaign trail by Sept. 18.
“I’d like them to think I’m extremely honest, extremely hard working and dedicated,” Miller said. “I’m a straight shooter though. I’m gonna tell you exactly what I think whether you like it or not.”
Finances
One of the things he doesn’t like, he said, is the way town budgets are put together.
Department heads ask for money and the Board of Finance figures out how much they should get.
Rather, he wants the First Selectman to tell department heads early in the budget season what kind of budgets they should be requesting.
“The First Selectman must present a budget in advance of the budget season starting,” Miller said. “We should have a budget ready to go at the end of October, beginning of November, so when department heads meet, they know how much there is to spend. And it should have projections of the mill rate and spending for the next three to five years, were we can project revenue.”
The Town Charter is set up for the Board of Finance to adjust departmental requests, not for the First Selectman to set a budget, but Miller would want his budget suggestions to be put out there anyway.
“I want it so people have an understanding of the direction we’re moving. It’s just simply a guide,” Miller said.
Miller’s ideas are popular with fellow Republicans. He won the party’s nomination without a challenge from the floor.
The Republicans like Miller’s energy and new ideas of how to handle municipal government, said fellow Republican Lucy McConologue, who has assisted Miller on the campaign trail.
“The ideas may not be actually new, but the approach to handling those ideas is more efficient,” McConologue said.
She likes his ideas on the budget, in particular.
“I feel the person initiating the changes should be responsible to say how to finance it, and he is willing to accept that challenge, to say this is what I want to do and this is how it will be done,” she said.
Miller faces Paul Roy, a Democrat who has served one term as First Selectman. He can improve on what Roy does in ways including bringing accountability to the office, Miller said.
“We need to plan. Everything we do in Seymour is fly by the seat of the pants, shoot from the hip. If you ask the current administration where we’ll be in 12 months they can’t give you can answer. That’s no way to run an operation,” Miller said.
That’s exactly what he intends to do, and even has a name for it. He has referred to himself as a “yellow pad guy,” a reference to the yellow legal pads he uses to plan his work day.
And he likes what he is hearing on the campaign trail.
“A lot of people are opening that door, leaning out, stepping out on the porch. They want to engage in conversation, and that’s a good thing. They want to learn more about me and what I stand for,” Miller said. “They want to challenge some things I said, or some things going on around town, and they ask what I would do about it. That’s a really good thing.”
