Candidate, Town Council
Dawn A. Miceli is currently serving her fourth term on the Town Council after having been elected to the post in 2009. Dawn’s fourth term has been a busy and rewarding one having continued her service on several subcommittees, including Open Space and Land Acquisition and the Economic STRIKE Committee, and working with residents on such issues as chip seal and group homes in our community.
Moreover, Dawn spearheaded several initiatives over the past two years that combined her volunteer efforts with her public service work for the town of Southington. Specifically, she is committed to making Southington an attractive place to live and visit and offerings such as White Christmas in the Community and venues such as the new arts center and the Southington Drive-In, all of which she helped bring to fruition, ensure both quality of life for residents while also attracting visitors to Southington.
As a proponent of economic development, Dawn issued key votes this session to continue fostering responsible growth and attractive development for the community, such as tax incentives for breweries and similar establishments. She has been instrumental in the Town/Chamber Business Forums that provide learning and advancement opportunities for our commercial entities.
Dawn stepped up her commitment to the Southington Chamber of Commerce – and thus the town’s commercial sector – as a member of the Executive Board. She ensures that our business community has a voice on the Council and a secure foothold in our municipality. Furthermore, as chair of the Chamber’s Economic Development Committee, Dawn advocated for a change to the town’s Preferred Bidding Ordinance to help safeguard the success and sustainability of local industry.
Perhaps most rewarding has been the opening of SoCCA, the town’s new arts center located in the historic Gura Building. Dawn helped bring the vision of a much-needed arts space to our community through her foresight to save the Gura Building. In addition, she aided in raising the necessary funding for the more than $1 million renovation project and continues her association with Southington Community Cultural Arts as a member of the Board of Directors. Besides the cultural and enrichment opportunities, Dawn is cognizant of the economic impact of this type of facility in the town’s central hub.
Other accomplishments include:
- The revival of the Southington Drive-In as a community-owned and volunteer-operated establishment.
- The formation of an anti-graffiti campaign called “Act On It” in order to combat graffiti and other miscreant behaviors.
- The establishment of our quarterly Town of Southington/Chamber of Commerce business forums.
- The combining of our holiday events into one community-wide event called White Christmas in the Community, which serve as an economic boon for our town.
- The lighting of Linear Trail with our newly created structures of light as acquired via private funding.
- The resurgence of ice skating in our community with the installation of the downtown ice rink, which has further spurred the dredging of the Memorial Park pond for skating during the 2017-2018 season.
- While not necessarily an accomplishment, I am proud of my battles against chip sealing in our community, which I do not think is a long-lasting, quality product. I believe this paving process will actually cost us more in the long run despite its initial economical costs. I have also recently been involved in a Group Home Task Force to better the communication between the town and these private contractors.
Behind the scenes, Dawn has worked tirelessly for local businesses, residents and private organizations who call upon her for assistance. She is diligent in lending a hand to those who request help in navigating the sometimes onerous bureaucratic processes at Town Hall.
A Southington resident since 1994 when she joined her husband, Joseph Miceli, in his hometown, Dawn was captivated by this community’s spirit, appealing neighborhoods and unparalleled school system. Dawn and Joe, a high school math teacher, have one child, Jake, who is a junior in high school.
Besides her work on the Council, Dawn previously served on the Planning and Zoning Commission and the town’s Cable Advisory Council. Other affiliations include membership in Southington UNICO; a director on the boards of the Southington Chamber of Commerce and SoCCA; and a founding member of the Southington Drive-In Committee. She was also a founding member of the Southington Education Foundation and served as the group’s chairman for two terms. She is a past member of the Rotary Club and Thalberg Elementary School’s PTO Executive Board, and a past board member of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce.
Dawn’s public service efforts have been acknowledged through several awards and recognitions: she was the Southington YMCA’s “Person of the Year” in 2015; she received the Southington Chamber of Commerce Community Spirit Award in 2016; she was acknowledged by Leading Ladies in 2016, and she was the 2014 Public Servant of the Year through the Greater New Britain Arts Alliance.
Currently, Dawn is the Communications Director at Hamden Hall Country Day School and served for more than a decade as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University. She retired from journalism as a managing editor in 2001 when her son was born.
“I truly enjoy serving the town of Southington and its residents as an elected official and I look forward to continuing that role as there are many ongoing projects and policy initiatives that I would like to see to fruition. I have always maintained that I have an empathetic heart, a prudent pocketbook and an independent mind, capable of making well-informed decisions that benefit our community.”
