Saying her administration lifted the municipal rug under which Derby’s problems were previously swept, Mayor Anita Dugatto accepted the Democratic Town Committee’s nomination for a second term Monday.
“Upon taking office, my administration lifted the municipal rug and began cleaning up all the issues have been swept under it for years,” Dugatto told about 50 supporters at the Derby Veterans Memorial Building on Atwater Avenue.
She was referring to former Republican Mayor Anthony Staffieri’s administration. Dugatto unseated Staffieri in 2013.
Dugatto and the Democrats said issues previously swept under the rug included:
- The threat of a lawsuit by the federal Environmental Protection Agency over O’Sullivan’s Island, which was kept from both the public and the Board of Aldermen.
- A growing list of delinquent taxes
- A sewer referendum that had been delayed so that it wouldn’t happen in an election year.
The mayor’s speech is embedded at the bottom of this story.
Dugatto was nominated by Art Gerckens, president of the Board of Aldermen, Alderman Ron Sill and Jim Butler, chairman of the tax board.
Gerckens called himself “an expert on BS,” a nod to both his undergraduate degree and time he spent spent selling automobiles in southern California. He said Dugatto tackled a number of issues the Republicans ignored while in office, including badly outdated and virus-infected computers.
Gerckens said recent Republican claims about Derby being “stagnant“ just aren’t true, and urged the GOP to “go peddle your low-grade BS somewhere else.”
Dugatto said new businesses are opening in Derby, pointing to the redevelopment of Pershing Drive (a project started before her term but completed during her term) as proof.
She said private investment was responsible for the rebirth of the former Dworkin Chevrolet on Seymour Avenue. New England Auto World opened there earlier this year.
She said the city has become smarter when dealing with blight by tearing down several dilapidated properties, launching a program to “clean and lien” others — and creating “DerbyCARES” to help problem properties from getting on the list in the first place.
Dugatto established a formal blight committee, and her administration has been willing to give big breaks on $100-a-day blight fines — assuming the property owner cleans up the property within a specified period of time.
Dugatto acknowledged the difficulty of getting a redevelopment project off the ground in the city’s redevelopment zone on the south side of Main Street along the Housatonic River.
Developers, Dugatto said, want “clarity, simplicity and swiftness.”
But the redevelopment zone, with its complexities, is anything but clear and simple, she said.
First, the state needs to start the Route 34 widening project, Dugatto said. The state, after a long delay, recently sent notices to properties that will be “taken” (for a price) to make room for a wider Route 34 through downtown Derby.
Dugatto said the city will use a $445,000 grant from the state to study the issues in the redevelopment zone and come up with a new plan to attract private investment.
“When people work together — be it Democrat, Republican, independent or any other group — things get done,” Dugatto said.
The rest of the Democratic slate has a slew of incumbents on the Board of Aldermen and the Board of Education.
City Treasurer Keith McLiverty, who ran with the Republicans in 2013, is now a Democrat.
And the slate includes two Aldermen — Second Ward Alderman Joseph DiMartino and Peter Olenoski Jr. — who jumped ship from the GOP, opting to seek re-election as Democrats.
Olenoski was elected as a Republican about two years ago. He said shortly after taking office, he started to feel that he could not “as a citizen, trust the Republicans.”
This had to do in part with the hidden EPA threats over a partial PCB cleanup the federal agency did at O’Sullian’s Island, a public park, Olenoski said.
DiMartino, who was introduced to local politics by Staffieri and the Republicans, said he simply likes the direction Derby is going under Democratic rule.
He said the current crop of legislators work well together, regardless of party affiliation.
Interestingly, DiMartino’s brother, James, is running for Aldermen in the Third Ward — with the Republicans.
“I won’t talk to him until after the election,” Joseph DiMartino said, joking, about his older brother.
Conventional wisdom in Derby leading up to the Democratic convention was that Barbara DeGennaro would not run for another term in Derby’s First Ward.
She said she was going back and forth over whether to run again. A motivating factor — the list of Republicans seeking office.
The Aldermen and the mayor have done a lot of good for Derby, DeGennaro said, and she doesn’t want to see the city backtrack.
p(fix).The Democrats had seven candidates for six seats on the Derby Board of Education, which triggered a vote by the town committee.
All the incumbents were endorsed, which left candidate Walt Mayhew the odd man out.
Dugatto is being challenged for mayor by retired Hamden police officer Richard Dziekan.
Here is the list of candidates nominated by the Democrats:
Mayor
Anita Dugatto (incumbent)
Treasurer:
Keith McLiverty (incumbent who was previously unaffiliated and was on the Republican ticket in 2013)
Constable
Sylvester Fusco, Jr.
First Ward Aldermen
Barbara DeGennaro (incumbent)
Stephen Iacuone (incumbent)
Joseph Cannata
Second Ward Aldermen
Joseph DiMartino (incumbent, was on the Republican line in 2013)
Art Gerckens (incumbent)
Ron Sill (incumbent)
Third Ward Aldermen
David Anroman (incumbent)
Carmen DiCenso (incumbent)
Peter Olenoski (incumbent, was on the Republican line in 2013)
Board of Apportionment and Taxation
James R. Butler (incumbent)
Carlo Malerba Jr. (incumbent)
Shane Mangado
Shirley Miani
Rose Pertoso
James Watson (incumbent)
Board of Education
Daniel Foley Jr. (incumbent, currently filling out a term)
George Kurtyka (incumbent)
Andrew Mancini (incumbent)
Kenneth Marcucio Sr (incumbent)
Christine Robinson (incumbent)
James Stadt (incumbent)
