HAMDEN -- Ann Altman, a Whitneyville resident, has been elected chairwoman of the Planning and Zoning Commission by a 5-3-1 vote.
Altman replaces Joseph McDonagh, who chose not to run again for the commission. Altman was vice chair for two years. Previously, she chaired both the planning and zoning sections of the commission. The commission changed its bylaws in 2009 and to streamline activities,  abolished the sections, and  now meets as the entire Commission twice a month. 
Altman said she wanted to be chairwoman because she has to be someone an institutional memory of the commission's actions; she has seniority on the commission and she has a  thorough understanding of Robert's Rules of Order. "In addition, I served on the Sub-Committee that rewrote the Zoning Regulations and, in fact, I copy-edited the entire document as part of my effort to familiarize myself with all the details.  Election to Chair seemed to flow naturally from my prior six years of activity on the Commission," Altman said..
Her goals are:

*   Complete transparency - so that all members of the Commission and the public have access to all the information that we use to make our decisions;
 *   Development of the public's understanding of the legal limits to the Commission's authority.

" I recognize that it is a great honor to be elected the first woman Chair of the Commission and I hope that I shall live up to the confidence placed in me by my colleagues on the Commission," she said.
Brack Poirier, Peter Reynolds and Michele Mastropetre opposed her election.