Patch Candidate Profile: Scott Goodwin For Norwalk Common Council

NORWALK, CT — Election Day on Nov. 4 is fast approaching, and there are a number of key races on the ballot.

Patch reached out to candidates for office to get more information on their campaigns and the issues that are facing their towns.

Candidate's Name:

Scott Goodwin

What office are you seeking?

Common Council Member, At-Large

What town do you live in?

Norwalk

Campaign Website

Party Affiliation:

Independent Party

Occupation:

Financial Services Marketing Strategy, 25+years Experience

Family:

My wife of 34 years, Lynn Goodwin, who's awesome enough to tolerate me running for this office.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No political relations. We're a simple folk.

Previous public office, appointive or elective:

I've never held office, but had the honor of helping with Norwalk's Redistricting Committee work in 2024.

Why are you seeking this office?

I'm running for this office because I’ve lived in Norwalk for 20 years, and the recent years of avoidable crises are unacceptable. Over the last year, we’ve seen multiple avoidable budget crises: one led to a school funding cliff, where leadership put teachers on the chopping block instead of planning for it. In another example, leadership realized last year that our commercial tax base had eroded over the last decade, so threatened us with losing fire & police services unless we accepted 10% to 37% property tax hikes.

At the same time our cost of living has spiked, they’re insisting that we need to fast-track more luxury apartments, which will add to the infrastructure burden and provide little relief to seniors who increasingly find it too expensive to stay in their homes they've lived in for decades.

I’m running as an Independent Party candidate to provide an alternative perspective to the issues Norwalk faces versus the groupthink that comes from 14 of 15 Council and 10 of 10 Board of Education positions being held by a single party.

And I’m running to add a level of oversight and data-driven proactivity that we need for a city of Norwalk’s growing size.

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

The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is tying residential growth to infrastructure needed to support it, and this is what I intend to do about it:

Growth should match our infrastructure and ability to support without further degrading the quality of life for residents. I’d advocate to revisit the TOD zoning regulations to tie future approvals to public works with real benefits to the community – funding schools and teachers, sewer and drainage improvements, traffic improvements, green spaces and walk/bike lanes instead of vague nonsense like “pollinator pathways” – developer-speak for a flower bed outside their high-rise. At the same time, I’d push additional ways to address affordable housing, including diversifying housing types for ADUs and senior housing.

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

Generally, we all have the same thing in common: we want to serve the people of Norwalk in what amounts to a challenging volunteer part-time job.

Where we differ is in the way we approach those solutions. While 14 of the 15 Council members come from a single-party, there's a risk of groupthink and following the party line because that's what their party elders want. As an Independent candidate, I don't have that baggage. And with 25+ years of product development, project management and digital services, I bring a different set of experience and accountability to bear on our local problems.

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

Two other issues I plan to address:

1. Education Funding - Norwalk Public Schools are the largest part of the city's operating budget, and growing with the push for increased housing density. I’d work on a two-pronged approach to stop the budget whiplash: Implement a 3 year rolling forecast, jointly owned by the Council and Board of Education, with early warnings if we’re off track – and publish results in a quarterly dashboard, just like companies do to keep their investors up to speed. As part of that funding review, I’d prioritize classrooms, teachers and students vs. the army of administrators. Second, I’d aggressively lobby the state for equitable ECS funding. Hartford can’t push for greater density in the city without fairly compensating Norwalk for our student demographics.

2. Transparency – Over the last few years, the incumbents often define and debate the issues above behind closed doors. As an Independent candidate, I’d push for more open budgets, accessible meetings, where Council members show up in person for the public, while allowing residents to attend in-person and virtually based on their access. We’d publish detailed meeting notes that don’t require people to use Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act to see the sausage being made. And I’d push to leverage digital data collection, then make the data available to citizen activists to give them greater access to surface their concerns and see how we’re using their budgets.

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

I’ve developed and managed complex programs and services successfully for large clients and employers like Walmart, Citibank, Unilever, Epsilon and KAYAK. And more recently, I've overseen Deposits Marketing Strategy at Santander Bank the last four years. Throughout, I’ve led cross-functional teams, coordinating with legal, finance, and technology partners to deliver excellence on time and on budget. I'd approach Norwalk’s Council work with the same level of professionalism and service: transparent, and accountable.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

There's a lot of good advice I've gotten from mentors, managers, family and friends over the years. One piece that comes to mind: instead of saying "I can't do that, say what you can and will do."

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I'm running because I care about Norwalk and want to provide an alternative voice on behalf of the residents who feel unheard by our current Council members. I'm not running as a protest candidate, but as someone who believes Norwalk can do better, and that starts with diversifying our representation on the Council and Board of Education.