Town Clerk

You may not know this but I have many titles:

Town Clerk, Registrar of Vital Statistics, Notary, Webmaster, Election Official and Municipal Veterans Representative.

Background

I was born and raised in Newtown, graduated from Newtown High School in 1983.

My husband is Bill Halstead, former Fire Marshal for Newtown and currently the Chief of Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue for the past 43 years. We recently celebrated our 8th anniversary!  Our blended family is blessed with 5 grown children, 4  grandchildren and one due any week now!  Our furry pets are Smokey the guinea pig and Buddy, a Chihuahua-Puggle mix who we rescued last year from the Newtown Animal Shelter.

Progress for Newtown while in office

●Land records are scanned back to volume 132 and all 8,000+ survey maps can be viewed and printed online. Since the pandemic, approximately $47,000 in land record documents and maps have been purchased online.

●Online Dog registration.

●Fraud Alert registration for Land records.

●Historic Documents Preservation Program - I am always in the process of looking for ways to increase service to the residents and making my office more efficient without additional cost to the town. One way I do this, is annually applying to the Historic Preservation grant to update land records and to maintain and repair old vital records and upgrade software and hardware. Since in office, Newtown has been awarded $107,000.

Education

Over the past 16 years I have earned every accreditation available in my profession.

●Master Connecticut Town Clerk (MCTC) 

●Master Municipal Clerk (MMC) which is recognized internationally.

I continue to attend regular State conferences and County meetings in order to stay current with the legislative and procedural changes that will affect the town clerk’s office and to implement these changes to promote smooth, consistent office procedures.

My commitment to education and to maintain a well-trained staff is evidence in the way I offer my assistants the opportunity as well for advanced education.  I am proud to report that all my assistants have earned the Certified Connecticut Town Clerk designation (CTC).

Elections Experience

●As an election official I create all election and referenda ballots for the past 55 cycles.

●Certified Elections Moderator

Active in Profession

●Fairfield County Vice President 2019-2021

●Mentor for all new incoming Town Clerks for Fairfield County

●Member of the Connecticut Town Clerk’s Association

●Member of the New England Association of City and Town Clerks

●Member of the International Institute of Municipal Clerks

●Retiree Chair presenting over 50 speeches to hundreds of my colleagues at annual conferences.

●Served as a member of Civil Service panel conducting interviews for new assistant town clerk for the City of Danbury.

●Organized Freedom of Information workshops for residents and newly elected/ appointed officials.

Community Service:

●Member Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Ladies Auxiliary

●Member of Newtown’s Citizen’s Emergency Response Team (CERT)

●Mentor for Newtown High School Career Center Intern program

●15 years and counting-coordinator of Annual Low Cost Rabies Clinic

●Relay for Life Captain “TC TEAM” - won award for best cancer awareness and raised over $2,500

●Volunteer/Assistant for year end accounting for Meals on Wheels

●Coordinate and host receptions for local charity and community organizations

●Member of Republican Town Committee since 2005

I have used my experience, education and knowledge of daily operations over the past 16 years and invested it back into our community by implementing better practices in cutting-edge technology, continuity operations planning, local government budgeting, public relations and disaster recovery planning just to name a few.

Every day is different at the Town Clerk’s office and that energizes me to always strive to be the Town Clerk this community needs!

Here is the link to my Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/DebbieAureliaHalstead/