Candidate Profile: Common Council - Grady Faulkner

Grady Faulkner Jr. (D)
Incumbent Candidate for Common Council

Background

I have lived in Middletown for more than 20 years after deciding this was the place to live and raise my family. I moved here because the City offers a diverse mix of urban, suburban and rural living as well as a rich cultural population.

Experience

I have served on the Council now for 3 and a half years now and enjoy the challenges in maintaining the things that attracted me to come and live here. My role on the Council is in Chairing the Insurance & Claims committee and serving on Citizens Advisory, Board of Health and the Youth Services Bureau.

I am a community ACTIVE person and have served on several non profits including Oddfellows Youth Theater, The Connection, MCSAAC, Middlesex Community College and the NAACP. In addition I worked on the organizing committee for the Middletown Community Conversations held last January throughout the City.

Qualifications for position

I am a resident who cares about the place I live and the people who make up my community. I bring my skills and creativity to the Council as an Accountant by trade and as a passionate Youth advocate; especially the teen to 25 population which needs both a voice and to know that the community does care about them and realizes they need our full support.

Reasons for running

I feel I can make a difference by being on the Council and making sure that those who have withdrawn from participating, find the initiative and motivation to re-engage in the community. The City cannot afford to have significant groups of citizens not contributing to the direction and prioritization of City affairs and initiatives. While we all lose access to new ideas and insights, we also invite estrangement and negativity when citizens isolate and create alternate societies that may prove to be counter to the unity which is essential to a healthy community.

Goals

I would like to continue to boost citizen engagement, improve the robustness of our Youth Services Bureau and the 40 Developmental Assets initiative and continue improving the development of Accountability controls and metrics so we can continually improve city operations and cut the cost of operating our local government.