Editor’s note: The Easton Courier asked candidates to submit a profile and a statement discussing three top issues facing Easton and how the candidate will help address them. Peter Dacey, Republican-endorsed candidate for the Easton Library Board, submitted the following response.
Profile and Statement
Peter Dacey is a long-time Easton resident, active volunteer, business owner and avid reader who is running for election to the Easton Library Board.
Dacey believes the Easton Library is one of the most valuable and appreciated institutions in the community. He intends to bring a collaborative approach to helping the Library and its Board execute its mission as effectively as possible and to brainstorm additional ways the library can serve the community.
Dacey believes the Library Board is facing several priority issues:
- In the immediate term, determining the best way to appropriate a significant amount of money that has been granted to the library.
- As with town and school libraries nationwide, Easton on occasion must wrestle with questions/concerns about potential censorship or highlighting of books that for varied reasons are touched by controversy.
- The ongoing evolution of social issues and historical perspective that demands constant evaluation and consideration.
“Reading across a wide range of subjects has been a passion of mine since before I could even decode the words, and that meant countless trips to the Easton Library throughout my childhood and beyond. It was also a place of exposure for me: it was where I was taught how to play chess, took out any of the three original Star Wars films as often as possible, and actively participated in their summer reading programs.”
Despite being born in Boston, Dacey considers himself a lifetime resident of Connecticut. He claims his love for Easton began a generation ago, when his immigrant grandfather would take Sunday drives to Easton – and eventually built their family home in town. Dacey said he and his wife were ecstatic to find their dream home in Easton and are committed to the town for the ‘long haul’.
Dacey’s local business roots run deep as well. An engineer, Dacey is the master product formulator and head of machinery and equipment at the family’s company headquartered in Bridgeport. He also spent more than a decade as a classroom instructor and tutor. Outside of work, Dacey loves history, music and all things sports related.
Dacey believes the most important issue facing Easton is the preservation of the character of the town. He cites the environment, reservoirs, woods, farms, privacy and open space as hallmarks of Easton. He supports the small-town community feel of Easton and appreciates the connectivity of town-wide events like the Fireman’s Carnival. Dacey also believes Easton’s proximity is ideal, with everything residents need located a reasonable distance away.
“Easton’s character will always be challenged in various ways big and small, consciously or unconsciously and from within the town,” said Dacey. “This isn’t a ‘failure’ per se, except that any new challenge must be met and until that has happened the goal of preservation has failed to be assured.”
Dacey added: “it is a fundamental and heartfelt position of mine that all sides of issues have their fair merits (and demerits), with the only true ‘right way to address said issues is to find a balance of these merits; therefore, I particularly focus my efforts on cutting through fundamentalist jungles that can only perceive the rightness of their own positions and the wrongness of ‘others’.”
