WILTON — Candidates for two municipal seats and two Regional School Unit 9 board positions told residents at a forum Thursday that they want to balance community needs with responsible spending and take a cautious approach to the town’s and district’s future.
Four of the seven candidates participated in the forum, which drew 19 residents.
Tom Saviello, a former selectman and state legislator, moderated the forum, filling in for Selectwoman Tiffany Miauri, who was ill. He used questions she had prepared.
The candidates who attended were incumbents: First Selectman David Leavitt, Second Selectman Keith Swett, RSU 9 Director Amanda Caruso and interim RSU 9 Director Angela LeClair.
Leavitt and LeClair are running unopposed.
Neither of Swett’s opponents — Nathan Hiltz and Nickolas Georgen — attended the forum. Douglas Hiltz, who is running against Caruso for the three‑year RSU 9 seat, also did not attend. Douglas Hiltz is Nathan Hiltz’s father.
Caruso said the district must balance its needs with what taxpayers can afford.
“We need money,” she said, “but we have to keep the budget in line.”
Caruso, who has served three years on the school board’s Budget Committee, added, “We have to get value for our taxes.”
LeClair, whom the Board of Selectpersons appointed to complete the first year of Griffin Mayhew’s three‑year term, said in response to a question from Saviello that she sees her role on the board as: “Be there. Keep the budget down and help point people in the right directions.”
She is running to serve the remaining two years of Mayhew’s term. Mayhew, a Mt. Blue High School graduate, died Dec. 8. She was 26.
Leavitt said Wilton has a strong Board of Selectpersons and that “keeping a balanced view on the board” is important. He said the five members have “different points of view, but we come to consensus” when discussing issues.
“We all do research, we talk, we exchange information,” he said.
Swett concurred, saying, “Once the vote is taken, I support it, even if I wasn’t for it.”
He added that the Wilton Board of Selectpersons works so well that “other communities come to Wilton to ask how the board keeps things so cordial.”
Answering a question from resident Cindy Cummings about whether the town should allow a data center, Leavitt said: “They (data centers) are noisy, they use a lot of water. But we need jobs and we need tax base. Sometimes the bad comes with some good.”
LeClair said she would not want a data center in Wilton. Caruso said she had mixed feelings but noted the issue is “irrelevant to the school board.”
Looking to the future, Leavitt and Swett both mentioned a proposal for collaborating with the town of Jay to provide policing services for both communities.
Leavitt said small police departments, such as those in Wilton and Jay, are struggling. They often hire officers, pay for their training and then lose them to higher‑paying departments in larger towns. Swett said a proposal to turn policing over to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office was too expensive.
Voters in Wilton and Jay are expected to express their opinions in a nonbinding referendum on which of four police collaboration options to pursue. The referendum is scheduled for Tuesday, June 9, in conjunction with the state primary election.
Swett also mentioned the recently completed revaluation of property. Letters to property owners started going out last week, and Assessor Paul Binette has said valuations can be expected to double. That will not mean a doubling of property taxes, he said, because the town will almost certainly lower the mill rate to offset the increase.
The town is hearing appeals of the new valuations this month.
Leavitt said Wilton’s biggest issue is reorienting its economy.
“We’re no longer a manufacturing town, so how do we replace manufacturing?” he said.
He suggested developing the town’s recreation potential.
On the future of RSU 9 schools, Leclair said the board must “make sure teachers have what they need to teach the children.”
She said the recovery from COVID‑19 has been difficult and that the pandemic “harmed students a lot.”
Caruso said behavior in the schools is getting worse, especially in the lower grades.
“It’s a big job for the superintendent (Christian Elkington) to figure out how to handle it,” she said.
Although he was among the three candidates who did not attend the forum, Nathan Hiltz regularly attends and records public meetings, posting the videos online.
Asked why he did not attend the forum, Hiltz said, “When you talk to the same people about the same topics enough, you eventually reach ‘debate bedrock,’ wherein further conversation no longer produces value and could even have a negative effect.”
Of the other two candidates who did not attend, Georgen is a member of the Comprehensive Plan Committee, and Douglas Hiltz is a former RSU 9 board of directors candidate who lost to Mayhew in the 2025 election, 209-146.
Leavitt and Swett had favored appointing Douglas Hiltz to serve out the first year of Mayhew’s term, but the board voted 3-2 to appoint Leclair, who had previously served nine years on the board.
Monitor Local was unable to contact Georgen or Douglas Hiltz about their reasons for not attending the forum.
