Lyme — Though First Selectman Steve Mattson is running uncontested in this year’s election, he still wants his constituents to know that he will continue to keep putting smart “organization and business thinking” into town government as he carries out his second term.

After serving in town politics for 24 years “on just about every board and commission you could think of” — including 12 years on the Board of Selectmen — before being elected first selectman in 2017, Mattson, a Democrat, said he has worked to uphold the town’s broader values, practicing responsible budgeting and keeping taxes low, while also preserving, maintaining and acquiring open space throughout town.

First appointed into his position in July 2017 to serve the remainder of former First Selectman Ralph Eno’s term after Eno resigned, Mattson then won the town’s first contested first selectman race in 16 years. Mattson said that he has implemented townwide organizational measures, helping to improve the town’s financial organizational and planning systems, while also providing continuity through government.

Mattson said he has laid out a 10-year capital-improvement plan on how to pay for "big capital purchases" such as trucks, new buildings and land purchases, which he said if they are not properly planned now could mean significant tax increases in the future.

Mattson said he also has devised several savings accounts to help plan for a variety of town needs, including an account for upcoming road repairs and maintenance. He said the town now deposits $320,000 into that account annually.

He also has created a plan to repair the town’s 40.5 miles of roads every eight years and outlined plans for two upcoming bridge projects — the Birch Mill Road Bridge and the Macintosh Road Bridge — which are expected to take five to 10 years to complete and will cost millions, though Mattson said he is expecting both federal and state grants to help pay for the projects.

Working as the town’s finance director, Mattson has, in two of the last three years, helped see the town come in with zero-percent tax increases. He said the middle year saw a very modest increase because of changes in education funding with the Region 18 school district.

The town’s average annual budget, which includes general government, education, debt service and capital spending, typically hovers around $11 million.

“I’ve made sure to work closely with the finance board,” Mattson said. “We now have more than the two months of operating costs in our general fund and we have savings funds equal to or a little more than our general fund, so the planning is there to be able to manage these things over a long term.”

In 2018, Mattson led the town in joining the Ledge Light Health District — a move he said has allowed the town to receive more health services for a better price, saving around $17,000 over the last year.

He also helped acquire 250 acres of forest bordering Route 82, otherwise known as the Johnston parcel. The town closed on that purchase last December, filling a space amid what is now a large uninterrupted block of forestland, without raising taxes to pay for the $1.45 million purchase. Eighty percent of the purchase was paid through a state grant, Mattson said, while the rest was paid through donations, town savings and a loan.

Before moving to Lyme with his family in 1996, Mattson, 64, worked in a variety of high-profile positions with companies such as Proctor & Gamble and Perrier. At both companies, he did logistical planning, overseeing North American distribution.

In his most recent position, Mattson also worked as director of product supply for Anheuser-Busch, before retiring at the age of 37 to support his family through trading stocks.

Wanting to leave Missouri for more solitude, he and his wife, Maddy, who is now a real estate agent in Old Lyme with Coldwell Banker, moved to Lyme, where Mattson said they quickly fell in love with the town and its community. He first joined the Democratic Town Committee in 1996, where he was soon appointed to the Zoning Board of Appeals, before then going to serve “on just about every board and commission you could think of.”

Now sitting as first selectman for the last two years, Mattson says he enjoys the nature of the job, as he wears many hats, functioning as the town’s finance director and public works director.

He said having a birds-eye view of what’s going on at all times — a talent of his that he’s brought from his previous background in business — is necessary to properly manage the town.

“I take a top-down look and I tear apart everything to its individual components and then I rebuild it so that they work better together,” Mattson said.

Looking forward, he said he hopes his upcoming term will be his last but he will re-evaluate as the 2021 election nears.

"I'm hoping at that time we will have groomed someone acceptable and who can do the job well and that we are not just searching for one more body," Mattson said.

Besides maintaining what he’s already been doing, Mattson said, “I want to make sure that, after I leave, the town is in a good position. My objective for the next two years is to institutionalize what we’ve been doing, and then set us up for the future and maybe get one more year of no tax increase.”

“For two years we’ve turned a corner and we are on a good path,” he continued. “If we could make sure we stay on that path, whether I’m here or not, that’s the goal.” 

m.biekert@theday.com