Reprinted from The Connecticut Post © Copyright 2009
November 30, 2009

By Susan Silvers

TRUMBULL -- The young lawyer just headed home from a New York Giants football game is positively ecstatic. "Thank God they won," he breathes excitedly over the phone, exulting in the 34-31 overtime victory in an otherwise dismal Giants season. Then something else strikes him. "Thank God the election wasn't that close."

Rabid football fan though he is, there are other things these days on the mind of Timothy M. Herbst, who at 29 is soon to become the town's first selectman.

Like putting together an administration. Or working with other Republicans to determine who will be in charge of various boards and commissions. Or even reaching out to the vanquished Democrats who claimed guaranteed minority seats in the new government.

Asked during an interview in his law office earlier this month when he expected the euphoria to fade and the reality of his new responsibilities as leader of a 35,000-resident town to sink in, Herbst insisted it already has.

"It hit me about a week after when I started having requests for meetings with certain organizations," he said, noting local agencies such as the Emergency Medical Service quickly called to see how he intends to deal with them.

"I'm finding that a transition process is just as tough as the campaign if not harder," said Herbst. He pointed out that he had five months to make his case to the voters, yet barely a month to put together an administration.

And that time is quickly running out. Herbst and other recently elected officials, take their oaths Dec. 7. The public is invited to the ceremony, which takes place in Madison Middle School at 7 p.m.

Herbst's prepped for this opportunity since he was a youngster. His best friend, Matthew Manzione, remembered that most of the kids in Pop Warner football would talk about the latest video game in their collection. "Tim was talking about politics," he said. Even back then, Manzione said teammates called Herbst "prez," a status he achieved as head of the Trumbull High School Class of 1998. At that graduation, he famously said he'd like to host the 30th reunion -- at the White House.

He's still too young for that role, of course, but Herbst has steadily climbed the political ladder. At Trinity College, he headed the student body, even while commuting to Trumbull regularly for Planning and Zoning Commission meetings. He's headed that panel for four years. He also took the helm of a tattered local Republican Town Committee for a term before he was even out of college.

Still Herbst, who is 5-feet 10-inches tall, and weighs 194 pounds said in many ways he's a typical 20-something. "I love to have a good time. I love to go out with my friends," he said. The difference, he said, is that he may go from a Saturday night out to reading briefing books on Sunday mornings.

And his musical tastes may be a bit eclectic. He counts Bruce Springsteen and the Dave Matthews Band among his favorite acts. He enjoys movies -- "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Forrest Gump" are at the top of his list.

Though he is a big music fan, Herbst hasn't made any decision on whether to continue the summer concert series that was Baldwin's favorite indulgence as first selectman. "We'll take a look at it," Herbst said, explaining that he wanted to look at the revenue picture from the event before making a decision.

Herbst also said he loves to travel to places such as Cape Cod and California. Although he's never been abroad, he dreams of visiting Italy one day. But a trip there is not on the immediate agenda.

Once sworn in for his new job, Herbst said he has four priorities, chief among them preparing the budget.

His proposal is due in February, which is before the 100-days he gave himself to identify $1 million in potential cuts.

The other focal points will be the already-underway renovation of Trumbull High School, and an examination of whether the process is within budget; consideration of the proposed regional sewer authority that was quashed by the town's Water Pollution Authority last year and finding a suitable site for the Jewish Home for the Elderly.

He said he goes out on dates, but not with the frequency he'd like adding there's "no one serious" in the picture now. He said he balked when one of his friends suggested that with his election victory, Herbst is now Trumbull's most eligible bachelor.

He also aims to find a place of his own.

"I'm torn as to whether to go with a condo or a house," he said. While a condo might be a time-saver because he wouldn't have to care for a yard, "it's a good time to buy a house."

Although Herbst has been well-known for years, he arguably hasn't even been the best known member of his family.

His mother, Deborah, is a two-term Board of Education member, and his father Michael, a former Town Council member, is the athletic director at Trumbull High.

He attracted some unwanted attention during the campaign by targeting recent Trumbull High School graduates with a letter asking them to support his son.

Of Syrian, Armenian, and Irish descent, Herbst said got his first sports love, the Giants, from his dad and he latched onto support of the New York Yankees on his own. With the family, which also includes his sister Amanda, a law student, the first-selectman-elect said the dinner table conversation is much more likely to be about football than anything about politics.

And it is football that informs his political approach. "You come up with a strategy to put it over the goal line," he said.