Ansonia’s Board of Aldermen remains two members short of its full complement after a long-simmering feud among the city’s Republicans boiled over Tuesday.
The Aldermen voted 6 – 5 to appoint two new Aldermen, but those votes were vetoed by Mayor David Cassetti toward the end of a tumultuous 24-minute meeting.
Click the play button below to listen to an audio recording of the meeting, with commentary from the Valley Indy.
Note: The Valley Indy did not attend the meeting, but requested the audio recording the next day.
Background
Two Republicans elected as Aldermen last November — Ashley Rogers of the Fourth Ward and Matthew Edo of the Sixth Ward — resigned in June.
Cassetti soon identified two Republicans — Edward Bostic and Ralph Villers — he wanted to finish out their terms.
But a special meeting to appoint two new members in July was canceled at the last minute.
Then Cassetti had to withdraw Bostic, his nominee for the Fourth Ward vacancy, after Ansonia police arrested him on drug charges.
Cassetti then nominated Marco Ayora, an unaffiliated voter who lives on Day Street, for the Fourth Ward post, along with Villers for the Sixth Ward.
Meanwhile Phil Tripp, the president of the Board of Aldermen, identified two other residents whose names were being considered to fill the slots — Keith Maynard in the Fourth Ward and Joshua Shuart in the Sixth Ward.
Tripp and Cassetti have been at odds since late last year, when the mayor tried to replace Tripp as Aldermanic president with Lorie Vaccaro, a close political ally.
The gulf between the two widened during a protracted budget season during which rival factions emerged on the board aligned with Tripp and the mayor.
Republicans Fight
The Board of Aldermen met Tuesday before its regular monthly meeting with a view to appointing two new members.
After convening the session, Tripp asked whether any Aldermen had any nominations.
The Fifth Ward’s Joan Radin nominated Keith Maynard, a former Aldermen who resigned in 2011 after he was charged in a domestic violence incident for which he was sentenced to serve nearly three years behind bars. The Fourth Ward’s Richard Kaslaitis seconded Radin’s nomination.
Lorie Vaccaro, a Second Ward Alderman, interrupted to make a point of order.
“According to the charter, the mayor has the duty to appoint,” Vaccaro said.
Tripp then read Section 143 of the city’s charter, which deals with vacancies in elected offices, and gives the responsibility for filling them to the Aldermen.
“Mr. Vaccaro, I don’t see how it can be any more clear than that,” Tripp said.
Vaccaro asked Tripp whether he was familiar with Section 8 of the charter, which covers the mayor’s powers and duties.
“Why don’t you enlighten us,” Tripp replied.
Vaccaro then read a sentence of the charter section which says the mayor can make “nominations for appointment to the city’s various boards and commissions and to fill any vacancies created therein not otherwise provided for by this Charter.”
Tripp said Section 143 governed Aldermanic vacancies. The Sixth Ward’s Patrick Henri asked John Marini, the city’s corporation counsel, to weigh in. The lawyer said the charter has a “latent ambiguity” but that the Aldermen could proceed.
Votes, Vetos
After a couple more minutes of wrangling over the charter, Vaccaro nominated Ayora for the Fourth Ward, which the Fifth Ward’s Anthony Cassetti seconded.
Charles Stowe, a First Ward Alderman, then announced Ayora owes about $8,000 to the city’s Water Pollution Control Authority.
Vaccaro said Ayora had made arrangements to pay the money to the WPCA. Stowe said it wouldn’t look right to residents if somebody who owes the WPCA money is appointed as an Alderman, and suggested Ayora run for Alderman next November.
Aldermen then spent four minutes arguing over the procedure for the vote. The complete audio is posted at the top of this story.
When the votes were finally tallied, Maynard had six votes and Ayora had five.
Those voting for Mayard — Tripp, Stowe, Kaslaitis, Radin, First Ward Republican Randolph Carroll and Third Ward Democrat Joseph Jeanette.
For Ayora — Vaccaro, Cassetti, Henri, and Seventh Ward Republicans David Blackwell and Frank DeLibero.
Third Ward Democrat Denice Hunt did not attend the meeting.
Voting for the Sixth Ward vacancy followed was exactly the same, with Shuart edging out Villers by a 6 – 5 vote.
Carroll then made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
“Wait a minute,” Mayor Cassetti interjected.
He then announced he was vetoing the Aldermen’s votes.
Fallout
“If the mayor so chooses to use a veto, which I need to research, we will look into it,” Tripp said.
Marini said the Aldermen could overturn Cassetti’s veto by a two-thirds vote.
Carroll said he was “appalled.”
“I’m beginning to wonder why we even have a Board of Aldermen,” Carroll said.
Radin pronounced the meeting “really a sin.”
“(People are) more interested in what’s going on in the city rather than a fight amongst the Board of Aldermen,” she said.
Stowe suggested reaching out to a lawyer other than Marini to get an opinion on the charter, saying that while has the “utmost respect” for Marini, he “leans to one side” — the mayor’s.
“That’s not true,” Marini interjected.
Marini, Stowe, and Tripp then talked over each other, with Tripp eventually shouting to restore order.
The complete audio is posted at the top of this story.
“Alderman Stowe has the floor, not corporation counsel,” he yelled.
But Stowe then dropped the matter after Tripp informed him it couldn’t be brought up during the special meeting because it wasn’t listed on the agenda.
During the Aldermen’s subsequent regular monthly meeting, the Aldermen voted 8 – 2 to have someone who isn’t Marini research the charter. Vaccaro and DeLibero voted no.
Click play button on the video below to watch that discussion, which begins around the 1 hour, 42 minute mark.
No Video?
For some reason, Tuesday’s special meeting wasn’t recorded on video, even though the city shelled out nearly $10,000 to record meetings and publish them online.
The Aldermen’s regular monthly meetings are recorded and posted to YouTube.
Marini said Wednesday the person hired by the city to record the meetings did not know he should record special meetings as well.
“He now understands that every meeting is to be recorded,” Marini said. “He is the only individual who is trained to operate the camera.”
The city subsequently released an audio recording of the meeting provided by the Aldermen’s recording secretary.
