2025 Patch Profile: Zach Zannoni​, Enfield Town Council

ENFIELD, CT — Enfield Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as Election Day draws near.

Zach Zannoni is running for the Enfield Town Council as a Democrat.

The following is Zach Zannoni's questionnaire sent to Patch:

Candidate's Name: Zach Zannoni

What office are you seeking? Enfield

What town do you live in? Town Councilor At-Large

Campaign Website: https://enfieldctdemocrats.org/f/meet-zach-zannoni---town-council-at-large-candidate-2025

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Occupation: Educator for the past five years

Family: My mother, Michelle Catania, of Enfield; My father, Ron Zannoni, of Enfield; My grandparents, Gary and Mary Raffia, of Enfield

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? No

Previous public office, appointive or elective: Member, Enfield Democratic Town Committee, 2022-Present; Constable, Town of Enfield, 2023-24; Enfield Charter Revision Commission, Member 2024-25.

Why are you seeking this office?

While elections to this office come around every two years, some elections matter more than others.

Enfield has been faced with burgeoning partisanship over the past eight years, which is contributing to what I view as an erosion of the civic spirit of our town that has defined it for decades.

This erodes effective leadership and cooperation from our elected officials.

During a time that could not be more paramount to the success and future of our town, with millions of dollars in proposed public-private partnerships for redevelopment across key sectors of town, such as the Thompsonville Village and the Enfield Square, collaboration and a substantive direction to take this town are essential.

I’ve always viewed public service as a calling to represent the entirety of a community, not one partisan faction over another.

Having been a volunteer for both political parties in my life, Republican and Democrat, I’ve had the first-hand experience to identify that the vast majority of people willing to stand for election in our town, regardless of the letter next to their name, are good people with a genuine heart to improve our town.

We’ve lost a sense of that reality in our town lately.

I reflect on what are often regarded as our most successful, most collaborative Town Council’s with the leadership of individuals such as Mayors Kaupin and Strom. I know the key to their success was their unwavering commitment to viewing the Town Council as a whole, not two parts coming together.

In many towns, this would be cliché, but in Enfield, it matters.

I’ve attended council meetings for nearly a decade now, and have seen the slow erosion of respect and kindness afforded to others.

I’ve seen civil and pragmatic discussions disappear, and a lack of consistent communication among both parties appears more frequent.

We need to return to the Enfield that thousands expect of us.

This is not a liberal town, this is not a conservative town; we are a solidly independent community, our council should reflect that with individuals' commitment to crossing the aisle, finding common ground, and being committed to restoring some sense of respect and decency to the dais.

Lastly, if elected, I would become the youngest individual to sit on our Town Council.

This is a period in which our Town Council is making crucial decisions, especially surrounding economic development that will span decades in its impact.

Policies can be overturned by every subsequent council; concrete will outlive most of us.

The next generation of our community must have a seat at the table while we make determinations about what Enfield will look like decades into the future.

The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is ____, and this is what I intend to do about it: Economic Development.

Most major decisions of the Town Council scaffold off of economic development.

Our ability to make investments in our future and deliver affordability is inherently tied to the success of the local economy and the financial resources we have as a result.

The most prudent way to starve off tax increases that unnecessarily burden working-class households and seniors is to ensure the revenue growth of our town via economic development exceeds the amount of incurred costs to fund our government.

Not every community in the state of Connecticut has been faced with the financial crisis that Enfield has faced; their economy has grown enough to mitigate the impact of cuts or freezes to services, rather they’ve been able to invest in their community and their future.

The Town of Enfield has to fundamentally revise the role our elected officials play in economic development.

For decades, we have hoped that developers will come to us; however, we need to take the initiative to define our own vision for the community.

I’m deeply concerned about the new proposal for instance regarding the Enfield Mall, which appears as if another bait and switch by a big developer seeking to turn one of our most prized pieces of real estate opportunity into yet another strip mall, by removing aspects of the plan that embodied commercial storefronts similar to Evergreen Walk with individually zoned parcels that are frequents for fast food development opportunities.

We cannot continue to have our future dictated to us by outside groups. We’ve seen the outcomes of this many times, delivering us poor projects or false promises.

We need to actively seek out developers who can fulfill those visions in partnership with the town, and discard those who fail to do so.

The town owns dozens of properties with development potential, most notably along North Main Street.

The Town Council should define a concrete vision as to what they expect out of the priorities, and send out a request for proposal, rather than accepting proposals in a public-private partnership or simply offering tax credits in exchange for poorly designed projects.

The most visionary redevelopment projects in the state have been pioneered in public partnerships, whether it be downtown Manchester, Blue Back Square, or Windsor Locks’ Main Street redevelopment plan.

Each of these proposals stands to add millions to their town’s grand list, freeing up significant revenue to invest in their communities and lessen the tax burden.

Each of them has a direct vision from their elected officials and the residents about what they expect out of these projects.

We deserve a vested stake and say in the future of major projects in our community, and we can no longer sit in the passenger seat.

What are the major differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Every candidate running for the Town Council this cycle has qualities that will make them a strong addition to the dais.

Regardless of some policy differences I may have, I am enthusiastic and willing to work with each.

I will note that, potentially entering this office in my early 20s, unlike anyone else seeking this role, the Enfield I grew up in is inherently different from the other candidates.

I never saw a successful mall, I never saw a vibrant downtown, I’ve grown up in Enfield, that’s struggled to make its mark on the state in incredibly competitive markets.

My generation is entering the housing market, and I believe having generational representation on our council of the most key economic groups is quintessential to the future of the town.

Our generation expects more out of their neighborhoods and their towns than prior generations may have.

We pride ourselves on communities that have affordable and attainable housing, walkable communities, that have a variety of housing stock, especially smaller units, given my generation is having fewer children.

They look for aspects of a town that make it distinctive, unique, and stand out.

We can have the bones here in Enfield to deliver that; it takes initiative.

As a young individual, I intimately understand what it takes for Enfield to attract the next generation of young professionals.

As an educator, I understand the needs of our school district and the importance we investing in our Board of Education to meet the needs of a rapidly changing district demographically.

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

I want a mill rate that is cognizant of the fact that this is a working-class community.

Connecticut property taxes are among the most regressive taxes in our country. They harm working-class people and seniors disproportionately.

They are essentially a flat tax; if a town has to raise taxes, they can’t raise them merely on corporations or on the most expensive properties; everyone has their taxes raised.

If Enfield raises taxes by 10 percent, that’s the same 10 percent increase for a single mom with two kids in a small Starr ranch, as it would be for the most affluent homeowners.

I think many have lost sight of this fact. $20 a month extra means different things to different people.

We cannot and should not tax out the most vulnerable of residents.

We need to steer away from back-to-back tax increases, as well as tax increases that easily exceed the rate of inflation and cut into people’s personal budgets extensively.

Secondly, our school system. I owe Enfield Schools more than I ever could repay, and I do not believe we’ve been providing adequate support for our district.

Our community has changed fundamentally; the residents that are here now are different than the residents just two decades ago, and some of them require more needs, and we can debate about how we got here or we could fix the problem.

The reality is that the district now needs more support, and we have a responsibility to reasonably restore funding to Enfield schools.

While it won’t happen overnight, we are in dire need of a sustainable plan to restore support staff to our schools for our most vulnerable children, and ensure services that provide them key resources to be successful are maintained and invested in.

Additionally, I want to work on us developing a government that’s more inclusive, transparent, and accessible to our residents.

We need to return the Mayor’s Advisory Council and Council Q&As so that council leadership can have the opportunity to hear directly from the residents on issues that matter to them.

I was amazed the first time I knocked on doors at 14 years old, and how varied and unique the concerns of our residents are. Things no politician, no matter how talented, could have predicted.

We need to bring those voices directly to the leadership in substantive and methodical ways such as I noted.

I could further elaborate on this with more ideas, and would be happy to answer questions for anyone who has them. Do reach out.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence that you can handle this job?

This role would be in addition to my volunteer service I have given to Enfield over the course of my life, rather than my entry into it.

I take any level of service one provides above oneself as an accomplishment to be proud of.

Most recently, I served as a member of the Enfield Charter Revision Commission, where three elected members of the council also served.

I was very committed to a professional presence and bipartisanship wherever possible.

While this charter did not include everything I hoped for, it’s a product of bipartisan cooperation and group consensus, and I’m proud to stand behind the document we’ve presented.

Some of the most significant things that we’ve done are we’ve codified the position of minority leader in our charter, so that whatever party isn’t in power always has a seat at the table.

Secondly, we’ve added a budget referendum; this isn’t one like other communities, where it keeps going back and back, nor is it all the time we were responsible in recognizing the size of this community in the challenge of a budget as large as ours.

We put a cap of 5 percent, a consensus number, by reviewing the data of prior budget years, where if spending increases over 5 percent, the voters get a say, because if there are any significant changes in the makeup of our government, the public deserves the opportunity to weigh in.

I’ve been an active volunteer across a breadth of organizations in town, from being the assistant director of my grandfather’s charity, Cans for Kids, working to expand communication and marketing of its mission, which has succeeded in raising over three-quarters of a million dollars for local children’s organizations and Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

I’ve had the opportunity to serve on the board of directors for PFLAG Enfield in the past, been a volunteer at the front gate of hospitality at the Fourth of July Town Celebration since I was 15 and served as an educator for the past five years, having recently graduated from Connecticut’s top school of education, within the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

Know that public service isn’t about serving yourself and your values, but about decisions that affect everyone in your community.

You need to weigh everything.