Chester candidate Tom Becker

I have been a resident of Chester for over 50 years and married to my lovely wife, Cindy, for 40 years. We have three wonderful daughters, Kara, Amie, and Amber. We are all graduates of the Chester school district

As a long-standing member of the community, and former employee of the Village of Chester, I have a unique perspective and understanding of the needs of our community. I believe a commonsense approach in making decisions will help maintain the integrity of our town. I was employed by the Village of Chester water department for 32 years and served as water commissioner for 17 of those years. During this time, I had the pleasure of working with the town highway, water, and other departments on various projects.

Cindy and I are owners of the Mountain view Farm here in Chester. We work hard every day to maintain this property and understand the difficulties that the few remaining farms in our community are facing. Further, we have an appreciation for the value of open space and maintaining the character of our town. To that end, I plan to work hard to make sure zoning codes are enforced consistently for all and ensure development conforms to the town's Master Plan. Enforcement is key to protecting our town.

Water is one of our most important natural resources and must be carefully protected. To safeguard these resources, I plan to use my unique experience to help the town board implement overlay districts. In doing so the planning board can carefully consider our water aquifers when reviewing building projects. The planning board currently doesn't have all the tools they need to make this happen. We can implement overlay zoning districts to limit potentially hazardous development such as underground oil tanks over vital groundwater sources.

The town currently employs a part-time building inspector. My goal is to have a full-time building inspector.

Thank you and please consider me for a councilman on our town board.