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Date: 6/29/2022
TOLLAND – How’s the retirement? What’s the best part of not having to trudge down to Town Hall every week? How are you spending your Monday nights?
Surrounded by his family, his neighbors and his former coworkers – and for Eric Munson Jr., there’s a lot of overlap in those categories – the man who recently holstered his gavel after 48 years on the Tolland Board of Selectmen has to think about it.
“I was home,” he replies, noting that holidays and a summer schedule mean he’s only missed one meeting since being replaced in the May town election. “It was nice to be able to eat supper at the regular time.”
Others were more emotional about what Munson’s departure from politics means to Tolland, where he has served as a selectman since 1974. Most of the town’s movers and shakers gathered on the Town Common to honor him on June 26 at the annual town barbecue and outdoor concert.
“You always cared for the town of Tolland first, and that always impressed me,” said Steve DellaGiustina – himself a former fire chief and 30-year veteran of the Board of Selectmen, but now serving his first term as chairman, as Munson had held that post for decades.
State Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli, a former selectman from Lenox whose father served 32 years as selectman in that town, said he believes Munson’s tenure must be a record.
“This guy is totally committed to this town,” Pignatelli said.
Selectman Patrick Barrett pointed out that 1974 was a long time ago. The average home cost $9,942. “The Sting” and “Blazing Saddles” were in theaters. Hank Aaron had just hit his 715th home run. Nixon resigned. “And I was 4 years old,” he added.
Barrett has been serving a handful of years as a Tolland selectman, after having previously served as a selectman in a neighboring town. He said Munson’s leadership is part of the difference that he sees in Tolland.
Barrett said following the death of a child and a divorce, in 2015 “I looked for a community to re-establish myself and found myself in Tolland.” It was affordable and the town government ran efficiently, both of which reflect well on the selectmen – and their chair. Furthermore, Barrett said, as he got involved in town politics, he learned that “we don’t always agree, but we disagree respectfully. That has a lot to do with the culture established by Eric Munson.”
Munson said he’s enjoyed his work for the town, and will miss his coworkers most of all.
“People I’ve worked with in my time as selectman have been great,” he said.
He won’t miss the mandatory, and often weekly, Monday night meetings, and not just because it delays his dinner. He hopes to spend more time at his cabin in the Adirondacks, and no longer have to interrupt weeks-long stays to drive back to Tolland for meeting nights. Munson chose not to run for re-election this year.
Instead, former Police Chief Ed Deming was elected, unopposed.
Munson was raised in West Hartford, CT. He came to Tolland in 1965 to serve as the ranger at Camp Timber Trails, owned by a Connecticut council of Girl Scouts. In his first few years living on the camp property in Tolland, he commuted back to the Hartford area to serve as a Boy Scout leader.
Like many officials in small towns, Munson wore several hats. In addition to serving as selectman, he was the town’s building inspector for “at least 30 years,” up until this spring. He recalled that when he started, the town building code was just two pages long. Munson was a volunteer firefighter before serving as selectman, and remembers when the town purchased its first fire truck in the early 1970s. He also served on the Historical Committee and ran a youth group in town for several years when his two children, Eric III and Joanne, were growing up.