Jerry Friedrich, the new chairman of the Brookfield Board of Finance (BOF), said he wants to dedicate at least part of a $600,000 payment coming to the town this winter and other funds toward maintenance of the town’s roads after the current $10 million bond appropriation expires in three years.

“We need to put money aside for that,” he said in an interview Wednesday night after he was unanimously elected as chairman for the next two years.

Voters approved the five-year, $10 million road improvement program at referendum in April 2010. Residents have complained for several years that the roads have crumbled due to lack of maintenance.

Selectman Howard Lasser, who substituted for First Selectman Bill Davidson as the ex-officio member of the BOF, said the town anticipates that it will receive $600,000 “from the liquidation court” in February regarding payments that an insurance company never made regarding a fatal tree accident that occurred in July 2000 along Pocono Road.

He said Legion Insurance, the town’s carrier at the time, filed for bankruptcy and in December 2005 the Board of Selectmen (BOS) voted to make three, $850,000 payments to settle the case.

Lasser said that municipal officials anticipate that the town will receive additional payments, but it is hard to determine when.

“Bankruptcies take time to go through the whole liquidation,” he said.

Friedrich, a Republican, who formerly served as chairman of the Board of Education (BOE,), said he believes the town’s finances are “in relatively good shape,” since it also will be receiving reimbursement funds from the state connected with the sales tax revenue from local businesses.

He said those funds were not anticipated in the municipal budget that was approved last spring.

Irv Agard, also a Republican, was elected on a 4-2 vote over Democrat Ron Jaffe as the BOF vice chairman.

Agard, a former chairman of the Board of Assessment Appeals, became vice chairman last September and continued in that position through the remainder of the last term.

Republican Phil Kurtz, a new member, was elected in a 4-2 vote over Jaffe for the position of secretary.

Republican Robin Appleby, the other new member, joins Jen Tomaino, who was elected two years ago on the Democratic ticket, on the BOF.

Friedrich said he hopes the BOF will increase its fund balance, which has been at least at 7 percent for most of the last 16 years, which has helped the town in getting four bond rating upgrades.

Last year it improved to AA1, the next to highest rating possible.

Town Treasurer David Scribner has said only about 14 municipalities in Connecticut have a better bond rating.

“I think the economy is going to be the big factor on our revenues,” said Friedrich, who began selling residential properties for McCaffrey Realty Professionals about three months ago after 35 years of working in corporate executive positions.

Three years ago the town had negative growth in its grand list after several years of healthy increases.

“In my personal opinion, you have to address jobs first, before the housing market will come back,” Friedrich said.  “If you can address that, people will have more confidence that they’ll have a job and they’ll have money.”

He said his five years of experience on the BOE and his 10 years as a member of the Parks & Recreation Commission have helped him since he was elected to the BOF in 2009.

“By having that experience, I know more about the education spending and what their priorities are and the importance of maintaining fields,” Friedrich said.

He said the BOE’s meetings “are more planned and it flows easier.”

“On the Board of Finance, there’s always something on the town side that comes out of the blue,” Friedrich said.