Nickerson announces candidacy for East Lyme first selectman
East Lyme — Mark Nickerson officially has announced his candidacy for first selectman.
Nickerson, a Republican, currently serves as the town's first selectman and previously served as deputy first selectman and chairman of the Zoning Commission.
He is married to Marlene Nickerson, a Board of Education member, and has two teenaged sons.
Nickerson became first selectman in January after Paul Formica resigned from the position to become a state senator for the 20th district.
In a letter to voters, Nickerson expressed that serving as first selectman during the past year has been an honor. He said his experiences as deputy first selectman and as Zoning Commission chairman helped prepare him for the role.
"Volunteering and serving, lending my time, talent and energy to this great town for the past 16 years has been a real joy ... a labor of love," he wrote.
Nickerson wrote that he brings experience, leadership, character and integrity to the job. He also said he has developed leadership skills, including balancing budgets and managing a professional staff, as the owner of two local GEICO offices.
Nickerson said in a phone interview he wants to continue the work he has done in office and said the town is constantly evolving.
He said the boardwalk, which he hopes will be finished by the end of the year, is the last component in a downtown area that has benefitted from several grants over the years.
"Niantic Main Street has arrived," he said. "We are now in a beautiful spot that we dreamed about a decade ago."
But he said with that comes discussions of managing a successful downtown. He recently blogged about ideas on how to control or add parking for residents and create a beach shuttle system.
He said other issues for the town include decisions on the project to renovate the elementary schools, the build-out of Gateway Commons and discussions over the potential to transition to an independent police force in the future, rather than the current state resident trooper system.
Republicans and Democrats each will hold a caucus this month to officially endorse a slate of candidates for the municipal elections on Nov. 3.
Steve Carpenteri, a Democrat, announced last month his candidacy for first selectman.
Twitter: @KimberlyDrelich
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