Groton — Gretchen Chipperini, a businesswoman who said Wednesday that she is “not a politician,” has collected enough signatures to run as a Republican candidate for Town Council in November.

She said she cares about the town and wants to get involved.

“I’m sick of the increase in taxes. I’m disgusted of the lack of cost cutting. I’m tired of redundant services. I’m tired of all these fire districts,” Chipperini said. “I’m a business lady. If anybody ran their business this way in the private sector, they’d be out of business.”

Groton Republicans endorsed eight candidates for Town Council in July. Since there are nine seats open, Chipperini may run on the ticket as a Republican without having to primary another candidate, Town Clerk Betsy Moukawsher said.

Chipperini needed 179 signatures on her petitioning papers, or 5 percent of the eligible town Republican voters. She collected 183 signatures and filed them with the registrar of voters on Wednesday.

“She’s registered as a candidate, so she’s completely legal at this moment,” Moukawsher said.

Chipperini said she has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a master’s degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and worked as a financial analyst in Philadelphia, as well as for a holding company in California that bought struggling companies, studied their finances and decided whether they could be saved.

She also ran her family’s business in Groton, a former mobile home park, for 40 years. She owns rental property in town and the property on Route 12 adjacent to William Seely School.

While collecting signatures, Chipperini said, she learned that people are frightened and angry.

“My platform is economic development and cutting costs — efficiency of government, which is dismal. We just spin our wheels on things that do not make people’s lives better," she said.

She said some people also expressed that they feel stuck, because they can’t sell their homes because buyers find the taxes too high.

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim