Peter Santago
Current Secretary - Planning & Zoning Commission I was born and raised in Southington. My grandparents immigrated here from Italy at the turn of the 20th century, settled in Southington and we’ve been here ever since. The land, community and fabric of Southington mean the world to me. Ensuring that the Southington quality of life I’ve always known can be preserved for future generations has always motivated me to give back to my community.
My public service career started when I was elected to the Board of Education where I also served as chairman of the long range Planning Committee and was appointed to the Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) as an alternate member two years ago. I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Fordham University, a Master’s degree in Management from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and did further graduate work at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. I retired from United Technologies Corporation in 2017 after working there for 30 years. My career included positons at Hamilton Standard in the supply chain as well as in Information Technology. My last positon was in the UTC Corporate Office where I was an Associate Director heading up the Identity Management group which controlled access to all UTC systems. I also held Continuous Improvement leadership positions where we greatly improved process efficiency and eliminated wasteful practices. Currently I’m a full time faculty member at Goodwin College as an Assistant Professor of Quality Management. It’s a very rewarding position where I can share my experience with my students. As I’ve learned from my time on the PZC, commissioners are bound by the law and the regulations on the books to make their decisions. It is therefore imperative that we are proactive in continually reviewing our regulations such that they still are relevant for the community’s needs. Land and historical site preservation is paramount to me and we can achieve this by utilizing open space, green space as well as ensuring regulations are met. By the same token we must ensure that Southington continues to be business friendly so that we can expand our tax base, grow the grand list and take some of the burden off the taxpayer. The decisions made by the PZC directly impacts all of our residents and the fabric of our town and I take that responsibility very seriously. I humbly ask for your vote this November. |