First Selectman Janet McCarty has served the town of North Haven for over 14 years as an elected official and community volunteer. Currently in her fourth term as a member of the Board of Selectmen, Janet has also served on the Boards of Finance and Community Services.

In her first term as First Selectman, Janet put numerous town contracts out to bid saving the town millions of dollars. Her administration has brought paramedics to town and is currently overseeing the renovation of the Senior Center. Janet continues to fight for more government per dollar and has recently passed her 2010 budget with no tax increase. Janet is committed to education, having helped institute an expansion of before- and after-school care at each elementary school and the institution of a vocational program with Gateway Community College for high school students.

Janet has fought to make government work for all North Haven residents. Janet worked to establish, and later increase, the town’s senior tax relief program, and was instrumental in securing almost a half-million dollars in state money for the purchase of open space land.

Janet believes that the public deserves to have easy access to town officials and town information. As such, she led the fight to broadcast major town government meetings on our cable station NHTV, and insisted that Town Hall create a town website. Additionally, she writes a column (Selections) for our local newspapers.

Janet has a strong commitment to the community. She helped found and was an original board member of the North Haven Education Foundation, and served as a Community Investment Volunteer for the United Way of Greater New Haven for many years. She has been both president and vice president of the North Haven PTA Council, and president of the Green Acres Elementary School PTA. A member of the Hamden-North Haven League of Women Voters since 1996, she has served as a board member for three years, and the organization honored her in March 2007 for her public service.

Janet holds a B.A. from Manhattanville College and a doctorate from the Harvard School of Public Health. She lives with her husband, William Leiserson on Cella Terrace. They have two sons, Nicholas, a recent graduate of Brown University, and Max, a junior at Tufts University—both sons are graduates of the North Haven public school system.