Three Selectman Candidates Vie for GOP Caucus Support on July 27

Registered Republicans in Darien are being asked to choose on July 27 between at least three candidates who want the party nomination for two seats on the Board of Selectmen.

First Selectman Jayme Stevenson is supporting Selectman Susan Marks and Kip Koons (full, formal name: Charles A. Koons Jr., not to be confused with his son, Charles III). The Republican Town Committee earlier this month endorsed Koons and Spencer McIlmurray, but not Marks, the incumbent for two years.

With petition signatures, Marks will put her name before the July 27 caucus in Town Hall to which every registered Republican in town is invited to come and cast a vote. (Any other Republican in town can also petition to be a selectman candidate before the caucus. Signatures have to be submitted by Tuesday, July 21.)

McIlmurray, an information technology/finance management consultant and a member of the Representative Town Meeting put his name forward as a candidate. Koons, a business consultant who hasn’t run for political office before, said he ran at the suggestion of Stevenson. Republican Town Committee Chair Karen Armour said Koons’ put his name forward the night before the town committee vote.

After interviewing the candidates, the full town committee took separate votes to select endorsed candidates. In addition to Marks, McIlmurray and Koons, Joe Warren, who has previously run for first selectman, was among the candidates before the RTC.

No one won the first vote, then on the second vote McIlmurray received a majority  of the roughly 17 town committee members present.

In a third vote, Koons outpolled Marks and Warren to get the nod for the other seat up for election, Armour said. Armour said she didn’t remember the tally for the votes and the secretary for the meeting is out of town.

Armour said Republican Town Committee members were concerned about recent proposals from Gov. Dannel Malloy, a Democrat that might have interfered with Darien’s development. (The town is poised to undergo some major development projects, both on the Post Office block downtown and with three proposed housing/commercial projects that would transform the Noroton Heights business district.)

In recent interviews, both McIlmurray and Koons said one of their major concerns about Malloy’s proposals to have a “transit corridor development authority” (run by a board controlled by the governor) take zoning control of land near major transportation corridors, including Interstate 95 and the New Haven Line tracks through Darien. The authority could also take land through eminent domain.

That Malloy proposal this spring was widely criticized, even among Democrats, and the governor withdrew it, but both GOP candidates say they worry the proposals could be resurrected.

“Anything that strikes at the character and the economy of the town hits right where we are,” McIlmurray said. McIlmurray said he is now semi-retired as a consultant for information technology management and business finances. His career includes a stint as global head of system planning and architecture for Kraft foods when that company and General Foods were merging.

“I think the widely held concern is that we be able to manage, to the extent possible, what’s coming down the road,” Armour said. Development decisions that affect Darien residents should be guided locally, not by some state authority, she said.

Town Committee members, therefore, wanted “different brains” in the seats of the Board of Selectmen, she said. “Spencer McIlmurray has a major management background. […] Koonz has an extensive management background he can bring to the table. It’s basically different skill sets, because the town is different — circumstances have changed dramatically.”

Armour added that Marks, the incumbent, “has done a great job.” McIlmurray, in his separate interview, also praised the energy and commitment Marks has to the town, but he said, “Now the issue is what does the town need today and going forward, and who is best suited to address those issues.”

Marks said that person is her: “For over 20 years, I’ve been involved in many different facets of the town, so I think I have a good viewpoint about what’s going on,” she said.

Marks is a former member of the Representative Town Meeting and has been active in Parent Teacher Organizations in town and other groups as well as on the boards of nine local nonprofit organizations. Marks was one of the principal organizers of this year’s town fireworks celebration. Her resume includes a stint as director of operations for a woman’s shoe company.

“I think I bring continuity to the board,” Marks said. “I’m a very good team player. I’m very good at engaging people who come and work with me.”

Koons said that he had attended an April meeting of the Board of Selectmen to hear state legislators discuss the governor’s proposal and other matters with the board. He said he was concerned about the state possibly taking over so much authority and strongly felt the town had to fight that effort.

In discussing the matter later with Stevenson and Selectman Gerald “Jerry” Nielsen, “that’s when Jerry and Jayme said, ‘Would you consider going on the Board of Selectmen?'” Koons said. When another potential candidate backed out of the race, Koons agreed to step in. “I wasn’t even aware that Spencer McIlmurray had put his name in the ring. In three days, I was in front of the RTC and the whirlwind has begun.”

Koons has never run for office before, although he’s long been on various boards of directors for agencies including the Darien YMCA and the now-defunct Darien chapter of the American Red Cross (in the past) and (in the present) Family Centers Inc. (which serves Darien and nearby communities). Members of his family own a parking lot for Darien Railroad Station commuters off of West Avenue.

Koons runs his own financial consulting firm, with his major client a private equity fund that provides capital to small- and medium-sized businesses.