2025 Patch Profile: Mike Del Santo, Southington Town Council

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

Mike Del Santo is running for the Southington Town Council as a Republican.

The following is Mike Del Santo's questionnaire sent to Patch:

Candidate's Name: Mike Del Santo

What office are you seeking? Town Council

What town do you live in? Southington

Party Affiliation: Republican

Occupation: Supervisor — Family Services- CT Judicial Branch

Family: Married to Kim, two sons — Jack, 18, freshman at UConn, and Max, 17, senior at SHS/Bristol Tech HVAC program.

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

Previous public office, appointive or elective: Elected Planning and Zoning Commission, 2001-19, 2009-19 as chairman. Member of the Town Council since 2019.

Why are you seeking this office?

I have been an elected official in Southington for the last 24 years.

I have developed extensive experience and a deep commitment to the Southington community.

My service began with the Southington Planning and Zoning Commission, where I was a member from 2001 to 2019 and held the position of chairman from 2009 to 2019.

In 2019, I was elected to the Southington Town Council and am currently seeking my fourth term.

My involvement with the Economic Strike Committee has spanned 14 years, including the past six years as chairman.

During the challenging period of the COVID-19 pandemic, I chaired the Southington Long Term Recovery Committee from 2020 to 2021, which was established to help the town rebuild during and after the shutdowns.

Since 2019, I have also served as chairman of the Public Works Committee.

As a lifelong resident of Southington, my dedication to serving the community is unwavering, and I am proud of the loyalty I have demonstrated through my years of public service.

The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is ____, and this is what I intend to do about it: Rising state and federal taxes, the inability for young Americans to purchase a home and senior citizens struggling to maintain their homes.

This has been an issue for years. I have been a strong proponent to ensure Southington is receiving its fair share from the state of CT and the federal government.

This past tax year, CT withheld almost $1.5M to Southington and placed this responsibility on Southington taxpayers.

This increases the mill rate and forces the town government to do more with less.

This needs to stop, and if elected, I will continue to fight to be sure that just because we are a well-run town, we should not be penalized.

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

The Republican slate of candidates is 5/6 incumbents.

We have been very successful in our leadership. We care about the issues facing our town and make sure decisions are made in the best interests of all residents.

The Republicans have a new candidate running this year. We are confident he will fit in well with our direction and values.

It does not seem the local Democrats have any real plan going forward.

It appears their slate is bifurcated, and there seems to be no cohesive message.

Southington residents will not be fooled. If someone is running again for re-election, who was not successful (sometimes multiple times) as recently as two years ago, I am unsure how the elector could now support that candidate.

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

Economic development has always been a major force for me. I am chairman of the Economic Development Committee, and we will continue to work closely with the Economic Development director to persuade business and industry to come to town. Increasing our grand list is the best way to keep taxes low.

There are many projects in the hopper, and if successful on 11/4/24, we will tackle some of these immediately.

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

I have been an elected official for 24 years. I have been integral in assisting business and industry coming into town with my work on the Economic Development Committee since 2011, and as chair since 2019.

I have been the chair of the public works committee for the last six years and played a role in enhancing the way we pave roads, making major improvements to our parks, and ensuring residents' needs are met with infrastructure upgrades.

I served on the town council through COVID and am proud we were able to successfully navigate this once-in-a-lifetime ordeal without scandal and ensured federal funds were directed in a way to help Southington.

We saw a lot of towns in the state embroiled in misuse of funds, like West Haven, purchasing small baskets of hand sanitizer and tote bags for exorbitant amounts of money, funneled to friends of the government.

I am pleased Southington did not have to deal with this because Town Council oversight ensured proper disbursement of these funds.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

My old man always told me to be kind to everyone on your way up the ladder of success, because oftentimes, you’ll need those same people if you slip up and have to move down a rung or two. Sage advice.