Our Government
Clinton governs under the town meeting form of government. An elected chief executive is the First Selectmen, who works fulltime and is paid a salary. A five person Board of Selectmen, including the First Selectman, set policy and oversee the town’s management. The Board of Finance is assigned the role of protecting the town’s fiscal stability. An annual budget is presented to the people who vote their approval or rejection at referendum. Clinton’s current mill rate is 24.92 mills.

Aside from the town hall professional staff, Clinton’s government is essentially a volunteer one, composed of 160 citizens who serve unpaid on elective and appointive boards and commissions. Clinton operates under its own Charter.

On the state and federal level, Clinton is represented by Connecticut state representative Jim Crawford (D); state senator, Eileen Daily (D), U.S. House of Representatives, Joseph Courtney (D) and U.S. Senators Joseph Lieberman (I) and Richard Blumenthal ( D),

The Republican Town Committee welcomes Republicans interested in serving on a Board or Commission.

Republican volunteers serving in Clinton’s government are:    

Elective

Board of Selectmen:  John Giannotti, Carol Walter

Board of Education:  Peter Giannotti, Deborah Grass, Phil Williams

Board of Finance:  Thomas Hollinger, Dennis Donovan, Ona Nejdl, alternate, Douglas Traynor

Board of Police Commission:   Kim Neri-Simoncini, Louis Russo, Phil Sengle

Board of Assessment Appeals:  Carl Neri, Caroline Dowd

Planning and Zoning Commission:  Cynthia Watts, Pam Fritz, Lisa MacDonald, Anselmo Delia, Dennis Irmscher, alternate Kirk Carr

Zoning Board of Appeals:  Mark Richards, George Doerrer, Tim Brockett, alternate Cheryl Church

Town Treasurer:  William Lofgren

Constable:  George Eccleston

Appointed

Board of Ethics:  Carol Anderson, John Critchley, Bonnie Fillion

Design Review Board:  Caroline Dowd, David Townsend, Lisa Vecchi

Economic Development Commission:  Dana Fordyce, Douglas Traynor, Anselmo Delia, Carl Neri

Fair Rent Commission:  Omar Francis, Philip Sengle

Harbor Management Commission:  Ray Apel

Historic District Commission:  Eric Ambler, Josephine Elliot

Housing Authority:  John Neri

Inland Wetlands Commission:  Michael Veneri, Cheryl Church, Elizabeth Isaacson, alternate Donna Chrostowski

Municipal Flood and Erosion Control Board:  Ray Apel, Carol Walter

Conservation Commission:  Elizabeth Isaacson, Rodney Kirouac, John Picard, Barbara Webb

Park and Recreation Commission:  Robert Neri, Joseph Schettino, Michael Sutyla

Public Works Commission:  Carl Neri, William Walter

Shellfish Commission:  Wayne Church, Kimberly Colegrove, Tom Riccio, Josh Snow

Tree Committee:  Carol Geiser, Elizabeth Critchley

Local Veterans Advisory Committee:  James Cave, Leonard Walter, John Neri

Water Pollution Control Commission:  Hal Dolan, Darby Hittle, Michael MacDonald

Youth and Family Advisory Board:  Cheryl Church, Beth Powers

Elderly Housing Committee:  Arthur Isaacson, Faith Fisher, Salvatore Cerruto, Angela Ross

Fish & Game Constables:  Joseph Paulson, Roy Sullivan

Shellfish Warden (state):  Robert Jenkins   

Founded in 1663
17.9 square miles radius.
2008 population: 12,645
Town Motto:
Where beauty inspires progress

Our town is home:
to the first classes of Yale University, to Connecticut’s first female First Selectman,
to the first tree planting leading to Arbor Day,
to the summer stock that inspired the creation
of Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven.

Our town has the most protected harbor
between New Haven and New London,
a summer colony of homeowner and rental cottages, a private county club and public town beach, a town dock with marina and boat launching facilities where locals gather at the end of the day to chat over ice cream cones while watching the sun set.

Our landscape is marked with extraordinary gifts of benefactory: 

The elegant William Stanton Andrews Memorial Town Hall, with solid brass water fountains, marble floors, gold leaf painted ceiling, which in addition to governmental offices, houses a professional theatre, Masonic Hall, Historical Room, a former paneled Court Room, and kitchen with a formerly fully equipped pantry with table settings for serving 200 persons.

The (original) Morgan School, gift of native Charles Morgan, including an accompanying trust fund which paid the education costs for Clinton students into the 1930s.

The Captain Elisha White House circa 1750, (Old Brick), current home of Clinton Historical Society, its tool museum and gardens, was the bequest of its former owner and society member.

The Stanton House Museum and General Store, held in trust for the people of Clinton, contains three generations of the Stanton family’s original antique furnishings and store inventory. The well in the back yard marks the site of the first classes of Yale University.