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Mr. Nepomuceno said that taxes and roads have been the issues discussed most frequently as he has spoken with voters in recent weeks.
"I've put out a realistic program for the next two years," he said regarding his pledge to limit spending.
Mr. Nepomuceno said he questioned recent comments by Mr. Davidson that the town could embark on an ambitious road reconstruction program without increasing taxes because its current debt will be declining in recent years.
The petitioning candidate, who is in his eighth year as the chairman of the Board of Finance, said that the town's debt service, which has increased recently with the $31.875 million renovation of Brookfield High School, will not decline until after 2013.
Mr. Nepomuceno, who was the first candidate to open a campaign headquarters for next Tuesday's election, said he will be campaigning door to door and volunteers will be making phone calls over the coming days.
Polling will be conducted Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in District I at Huckleberry Hill Elementary School and in District II at Brookfield High School.
Town Clerk Joan Locke said that as of Sept. 14 there were 4,020 unaffiliated voters in Brookfield, 3,475 Republicans, 2,109 Democrats and 5 that are members of minor parties.
Regarding economic development, Mr. Nepomuceno said he believes that the emerging 198-acre Village District business center near the Four Corners intersection of Federal Road could become a pedestrian-friendly streetscape that boost commercial tax revenues.
However, he said that he shares First Selectman Robert Silvaggi's concern that placing apartments above the proposed retail outlets in the Village District will reduce the New England flavor of that area.
Mr. Tinsley, a former vice chairman of the Board of Education who is now in his sixth year on the finance board, said his campaign recently commissioned a scientific poll of 150 voters conducted by a marketing firm that indicates that the top issue in Brookfield is taxes.
He said that based on his personal campaigning "taxes and the economy are the top issues with everything else a distant second," he said.
Mr. Tinsley said that he believes that this is the first time that a campaign has done scientific polling in a municipal race in Brookfield. He said the survey had a 95 percent confidence rate with a plus or error factor of 3 percent. "People are concerned about their economic future with this recession," he said.
"There are some people who want to use the money we might have from having a lower debt service in the coming years to lower their taxes, but I think we need to invest in our roads and recreation facilities," he said regarding a possible decline in the town' debt in the coming years.
"There's a lot of knowledge out there," he said. "That is good, because you hope that those people will come out to the public hearings and the town meetings."
Mr. Tinsley said he is increasing his door-to-door visits this week, noting that he has been going to homes for about two months. The GOP nominee said his campaign has 39 people who have written personal notes on his behalf to a combined total of 4,000 people that they know. He said that phone banks will be operated through the final days of the campaign and he will be distributing literature to the voters.
Mr. Tinsley said that his campaign has been able to utilize the Internet extensively but has been cautious in some instances about e-mail messages because some voters react negatively to receiving correspondence from someone that they haven't met.
"We have focused on the personal letter or phone call coming from someone that they know," he said.
"We represent a broader spectrum of the town of Brookfield," Mr. Davidson said in comparing this campaign to the Republicans United For Brookfield effort that he helped establish in 2003, which helped elect former First Selectman Jerry Murphy to the first of his two terms in office.
"I've met with considerably more Republicans than Democrats," said the Democratic nominee, who served as a Republican chairman of the Board of Finance from 1995 to late 2001 and was registered with the GOP until this last April when he became an unaffiliated voter immediately before announcing that he would seek the Democratic nomination.
Mr. Davidson has held neighborhood meetings in people's homes since the summer, appearing as many as four times in the same week.
He said the top topics have been improvements to the roads and recreation facilities, noting that several people mentioned the need for renovations at Cadigan Park on Candlewood Lake Road during a pancake fund-raiser that he attended last Sunday morning.
Mr. Davidson said he disagrees with Mr. Tinsley's recent comments on the disparity in municipal services for people who have children in the school district and those that don't.
Mr. Tinsley said in a recent interview that education is a community responsibility, but noted that the people in the 4,500 households in Brookfield without children in the school district already are providing considerable tax support for the school district. He said that there are 2,000 households with children in the local public schools.
"Those people may be using the library or other services, so I don't think there is that wide a disparity in town services between households with children in the school and those without," Mr. Davidson said.
"The question becomes about who is paying for the education of the grandchildren of those people that live in another town," he said. "We should look at everything as a community effort. Nobody should be saying that they don't want to pay taxes to fund the Police Department because they might not directly use their services."
Mr. Davidson said his campaign is sending "truthful, informational mailings" to voters this week that show the differences between his platform and the proposals being made by the other candidates.
Republican Steve O'Reilly, who has nearly 20 years of municipal government experience, including the last eight years on the Board of Finance, is running for one of the other seats on the Board of Selectmen against Howard Lasser, a Democrat who has about nine years of experience on the finance board and previously served for eight years as an alternate on the Zoning Commission.
The losing candidates for first selectmen also will be in the running for the two other seats on the Board of Selectmen. The board can only have two members of the same political party.
Mr. Silvaggi, who was elected by 10 votes two years ago while running as a petitioning candidate, announced in July that he would not seek a second term. It is the first time in 26 years that Brookfield has not had a first selectman seeking re-election.
The other selectmen, Mr. Murphy, a Republican, and Joni Park, a Democrat, also are not seeking another term this fall.
Voters will have a chance to select four candidates for the Board of Finance.
Theresa Mitchell, who served as the municipal controller for more than seven months last year is running as petitioning candidate; the Democratic contenders are Ron Jaffe, who currently serves on the Board of Education, incumbent Eilo Petta, Jennifer Tomaino and Caroline Hermans; the Republican candidates are former school board Chairman Jerry Friedrich, Board of Assessment Appeals member Irv Agard, Greg Dembowski and Michael Moen.
The electorate will get to vote for three candidates for four-year terms on the Board of Education.The Democrats are running incumbent Bruce MacDonald and Ray DiStephan and the Republicans have nominated Jane Miller. Republican incumbent Rob Gianazza and Democrat Victor Katz are competing for a two-year seat on the board.
Democratic incumbent Louise Trojanowski-Marconi and Republican Angela Finelli are running for a seat on the Board of Assessment Appeals.
Voters will get to elect three candidates for the Planning Commission. The Republican nominees are former selectman Art Kerley, Patrick Conlon and Ronnie Baiad. The Democratic ticket consists of Conservation Commission Chairman Alice Dew and David Matte.
There also are three seats up for election on the Zoning Commission. The Democratic candidates are former Selectman Rick Amorossi, Cheryl Duva and Francis Lollie. Incumbents Richard Horree and Raymond Murphy are running as petitioning candidates and the Republican nominees are incumbent Ryan Blessey, William Mercer and Christopher Lynch.
Three seats will be filled on the Zoning Board of Appeals. The Republican candidates are incumbent Patrick Donohue, George Meyerle and Curtis Timmerman. The Democratic nominee is Linda Wagner.
