On November 7th, 2023, Fairfield voters went to the polls to choose, among other offices, their next First Selectman. Democratic nominee Bill Gerber triumphed by 37 votes in this contest for the town’s top executive official and was sworn in later in that month, along with his running mate Christine Vitale. The Prospect sat down with Fairfield’s new First Selectman in December to discuss his background, his policy goals, and his first month on the job.

After graduating from Wesleyan University, Gerber says he intended to go into academics—but decided to go to business school after spending a year of grad school at National Taiwan University. Gerber first became active in town government in 2013, winning a seat on Fairfield’s Representative Town Meeting and then served on the body for 10 years. He has a strong financial background, having worked for companies including Arthur Andersen, Aetna, and Citigroup. 

Gerber says he and his wife originally chose living in Fairfield just because of its colocation between New York City and Hartford—but that the Fairfield community has had a big impact on his life. 

In 2010, Gerber’s son passed away while he was at Osborne Hill Elementary School after a battle with cancer. During and after his son’s sickness, the community stepped up to support him and his family, and over the years has contributed a million and a half dollars at his fundraisers for pediatric cancer research.

Gerber says this experience has shaped his view of Fairfield, saying that it “really makes you feel differently about society when you get that kind of support.”

Gerber’s wife, Jessica Gerber, has also been involved in town government. She was on the Board of Education for 12 years but chose to not run again in the 2023 election.

Gerber says his extensive financial experience has prepared him well for his new role as First Selectman, noting how you have to run the numbers because not all decisions are just common sense. He says there have been times in Fairfield where decisions have kicked down the road because of political pressure and now cost far more than they would have when the idea was originally proposed—including, he mentioned, air conditioning in schools. 

“That’s what politics is, you’re always facing criticism for spending money, but ultimately, for some things, you’re going to have to spend the money,” he commented.

When asked about the town’s government’s role in the lives of high school students, Gerber’s main answer was that the town has to ensure the school budget is funded properly. He thought that Fairfield Public School’s offerings of many extracurricular activities and electives distinguish it from other districts that “teach to the test.” 

“Every year we have a pretty diverse class of graduates that don’t just become future, you know, lawyers and investment bankers, but future chefs, future musicians, future teachers,” Gerber said.

The First Selectman also remarked on youth mental health and youth services as policy areas affecting students that could be improved on, noting that Fairfield doesn’t have a centralized Youth Services department—instead, youth services are spread out across multiple town departments. Gerber mentioned a central department, as well as contracting with psychologists outside of the school system—which has already been done in a few towns across the state—as possible avenues for change in these areas. “We’re starting to have these discussions,” he said.

However, Gerber also mentioned that he doesn’t have much power over the school system, with more of a role of proposing ideas and working with the superintendent, as he described it. “I think the way it’s structured is it makes sure that no politician comes in and does harm to the school system. That’s by design,” he remarked.

Although he lacks control over the school system, Gerber also said he would try to encourage positive movement forward by working with the superintendent, especially on issues like technology in education. “We can’t afford to let Fairfield’s education quality decline,” he added. 

He mentioned coastal resilience and infrastructure problems, as well as welcoming diversity, as issues that were facing the town that his administration wanted to address.

The Prospect asked the First Selectman what he’d like students to know about him. He had a couple answers, stressing his forward-thinking mentality. “I like looking out at what the best towns are doing. I think for a really long time, we’ve had people getting by with just what we’ve always done here, and I don’t think that’s sustainable,” he said.

Gerber stressed that while he has an appreciation for numbers, that doesn’t mean that you don’t put weight on certain things that you think are important. “You may not be able to put a number on mental health,” he gave as an example.

The First Selectman ended our discussion by talking about how his first month on the job had been. He named challenges that Fairfield will have to address—namely the United Illuminating controversy, and the contention over SantaCon—but also talked about the more human aspects of the job, providing an anecdote where he gave a proclamation for a woman who had turned 100 years old.

“In a business, it’s all about the bottom line, but in a town, people want their leadership to be invested and they want to connect.”