Jeff Caggiano will be sworn in as Mayor tonight at 6:00 at the Liberty Baptist Church on Maple Avenue.

Mr. Caggiano and the all-Republican City Council that will accompany him into office will have to get to work right away, as the first council meeting will be tomorrow night.

It is helpful to take another look at Mr. Caggiano- who he is and what he promised to do during his campaign.

According to his campaign biography, Jeff Caggiano is a life-long Bristol resident and attended Bristol schools, including Bristol Eastern High School, where he was a standout soccer player in the 1980’s. He attended Washington and Lee University and graduated cum laude with a degree in Biology. He is married and has three children.

Mr. Caggiano worked in the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries for the past 3 decades.

He is an active member of St. Gregory’s Church.

Over the years he has coached soccer and baseball in Bristol youth leagues.

He has served on the Bristol City Zoning Board for 2 years and was elected to the Bristol Board of Education for 4 years. 

For the past six years, he has served as Chairman of the Republican Town Committee.

As a mayoral candidate, Mr. Caggiano pledged to closely monitor spending in Bristol and keep it under control. He said that although Bristol had a tax freeze this year, there actually should have been a tax cut. He has promised to examine the spending in every city department and eliminate unnecessary expenses.

Mr. Caggiano made the issue of term limits a big one in Bristol, claiming that the Democrats were attempting to void the item from the city charter. In fact, the Charter Revision Commission (of which this writer was a member) was informed that the term limit item in the Charter was illegal as written and the city needed permission from the state legislature to impose term limits. The Mayor and City Council then requested the Bristol members of the state legislature to pass such legislation as was needed to make the term limits Charter item valid.

Mr. Caggiano also stated during the campaign that economic development in Bristol was proceeding too slowly, and that under his leadership, it would improve dramatically. He especially stressed that Bristol should do more to bring more manufacturing back into town.

Mr. Caggiano promised to continue the development of the former Center Mall property as a top priority.

At his inauguration tonight and the first Council Meeting tomorrow, Mr Caggiano will have a chance to begin to act on his promises.

When contacted for this story about his plans for Bristol’s future, Mr.Caggiano refused to speak to the Bristol Edition