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Date: 5/31/2022
GRANBY – Granby Junior-Senior High School science teacher and Select Board newcomer Crystal Dufresne has never been involved in politics until now.
Dufresne has a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences as well as a master’s degree in education as she works primarily with students in Grades 9-12. Dufresne said she decided to run for the Select Board seat after conversations with friends and family on what was missing or lacking in town.
“I wanted to run because there’s a lot of things that aren’t happening in town that I would like to see happen,” Dufresne said.
Dufresne said after contemplating the decision her husband gave her the final push of support to go through with running and trying for the three-year term on the Select Board.
Dufresne said as she becomes acclimated to the position, she will do her best in working for the town of Granby. She added while there are many things she wants to accomplish, she ultimately knows her hands are somewhat tied as she serves with two other members with equal votes.
“I am only one of three, so there could be a bunch of things that I want to do but it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen if I don’t have the support,” Dufresne said.
The newest Select Board member is already focused on securing a grant writer for the town to assist in finding funding for different projects. Dufresne said the town currently runs almost completely just on tax revenue from homeowners with very little business taxes due to both residents and businesses using the same tax rate.
Without a different tax rate between residents and businesses, places like Dunkin Donuts, Cumberland Farms and CVS all pay the same rate of taxes as homeowners. Dufresne hopes that by hiring a grant writer for the town they can get help securing the funds for different projects on the table or on the back burner since before the coronavirus pandemic.
One project Dufresne referred to was a 2018 study on a West Street location in town to identify if the area was usable for town offices so that all town offices were close to one another in one location. Dufresne said a study was done in 2018 and the town is still yet to do anything with that study. She said estimates of costs at the time to take down and reconstruct a new building have only increased at a sharp increase due to inflation and rises in costs of materials.
“Because we didn’t do anything with it back in 2018, we’re now facing the higher rate. We can’t afford to do these projects just on tax base and just on our taxpaying homeowners,” Dufresne said.
Dufresne said she is most looking forward to learning all the ins and outs of the position.
“I’m not really political, I’ve never had a political base. I just want to do what’s right for the town because I love the town,” Dufresne said. “I’m looking forward to also working with the people in the town, making things better for everyone who works in the town, and to work together. We are a small town, we need to do this together. Life’s hard enough, we don’t have to work against each other we should all be working with each other.”