Preston - Longtime Selectman Gerald Grabarek has always had a way of getting his point across.

Sometimes his audience thought him to be crass. Other times they may have thought he was naïve.

However, most knew that when Grabarek said something he, for the most part, knew what he was talking about, wasn't afraid to tell it like he thought it was and believed any decision he made over his 14 years on the Board of Selectmen was in the best interests of the town and its residents.

Grabarek, 58, retired from the board this month, opting instead to start a new tenure on the Board of Finance.

"I just thought it was time. Fourteen years is quite a while and this is an intense board," Grabarek said Friday about the Board of Selectmen. "But whenever I did something there was nothing in it for my personal gain. I always had the town's best interest in mind."

Grabarek will also continue to serve on the wetlands commission, in addition to becoming more active in farming-related committees. He was recently appointed to the state Dairy Committee and is on the Board of Directors for the New London County Farm Bureau.

"I'm not going away. I'm not leaving town. I'm still involved and I'm humbled by the people who continue to support me after all these years," Grabarek said.

Besides, he said, he has to keep running for election because one of these years he's bound to get more votes than his wife, Deborah Grabarek, a member of the zoning board and former school board chairwoman.

"I came close this year, but not close enough," he said, laughing.

Last Thursday, Selectman Michael Sinko, First Selectman Robert Congdon, incoming Democratic Selectman Timothy Bowles and the handful of residents who regularly attend selectmen's meetings, honored Grabarek with a cake, coffee, and a special plaque, along with an antique-style clock affixed to a wooden backing.

Although Grabarek saw some humor in the gift, they insisted the clock was not meant to poke fun at his regular tardiness to meetings. Those meetings start at 6:30 p.m., just as he is wrapping up his chores at his dairy farm a couple miles up Route 2. Congdon suggested it would look good hanging in the milking parlor, but Grabarek was quick to answer that he'd then have to learn how to tell time.

During the reception, Congdon showed people a picture from the first few months of when they were elected to the board. They both quipped that they had a lot more hair and it was a lot less gray in 1995.

"This job will do that to you," Grabarek said laughing after he finished signing his last checks as a selectman, a weekly job for the board.

When asked what he is most proud of, Grabarek said it's the creation of the Preston Community Park, followed by disputing tribal annexation of land within Preston and the strong, townwide opposition to the Route 2A bypass, which would cut through part of his farmland.

Some issues he'd rather forget but will chalk up to a learning experience include the Utopia Studios "fiasco" and the town's recent purchase of the former state hospital property.

Grabarek said one of the reasons for his departure from the board is his strong opposition to the town owning the 390-acre site. He said he didn't want anyone to think he was obstructing the process, but if he had stayed on the board he couldn't support the town's decision.

Instead, he will take his expertise on town finances to the Board of Finance. He was sworn in this week and will attend his first meeting in December.

He hopes to remain on the board for maybe, 14 years. It's his magic number. Not only was he on the Board of Selectmen for that long, prior to that he served on the planning commission for 14 years.

"In a small town there are a core group of people who serve, I wanted to be one of those people and I am," he said.

m.bard@theday.com