ANSONIA – An elected official endorsed by both the Republican and Democratic parties said Monday (Oct. 27) he is endorsing Democrat Frank Tyszka for mayor.

“I’m endorsing Frank because, in my view, he is the better of the two candidates in terms of Ansonia’s needs at this time,” said Steven Adamowski, a Second Ward Alderman who successfully ran on incumbent Republican Mayor David Cassetti’s ticket in 2021 and 2023.

The Valley Indy called Cassetti for a reaction to Adamowski’s announcement, but did not receive a response. A message seeking comment was also left with corporation counsel John Marini, who often talks to the press on behalf of the administration. 

Adamowski, a retired school superintendent, is still on the Board of Aldermen, but he’s running for the Ansonia Board of Education on the Nov. 4 ballot.

He was endorsed for the school board in July, by the Ansonia Town Republican Committee and the Ansonia Town Democratic Committee.

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WPCA Sale A Factor In Decision

Adamowski said Tyszka is better qualified to handle potential financial issues brought from the sale of the city’s Water Pollution Control Authority to Aquarion for $41 million in 2024.

Adamowski voted for the deal.

However, he said Oct. 27 he was given wrong information about how the money from the sale would be used. He said he believed the money would be used to fund expensive one-time bonding items, such as the construction of a new middle school. However, most of the money has since been used to pay down past debts and fund the city’s operating budgets.

He said Tyszka could right the city’s course by hiring a full-time financial director, which Tyszka has promised to do.

Adamowski said the sewer sale proceeds will eventually run out, and that he doesn’t believe the current administration has a solid plan to deal with it.

“I think that’s the cliff that the city is looking at in terms of its finances. I don’t know how much this is known or appreciated, but if you’re on the inside of this, it’s very concerning,” Adamowski said.

Cassetti administration officials have said that it plans to wind down its use of the sale proceeds year by year until 2029. Members of his administration described those plans to a state finance advisory panel in September, and outlined them to municipal bond ratings agency S&P Global last year.

The city’s budget director, Kurt Miller, has said the money is being used to reduce the burden on city taxpayers as the city attracts economic development projects such as a fuel cell deal at the former Ansonia Copper & Brass site. 

Cassetti has pointed to the city’s bond rating under his administration – currently at AA-, a “very strong capacity to meet financial commitments,” according to S&P Global’s website.

Adamowski has previously raised concerns about the city’s budgeting practices and a lack of summer and after-school opportunities. He said Tyszka is the better candidate on both of those issues. 

Along with Adamowski, Republican First Ward Alderman Dan King said he’s endorsing Tyszka, too. King was appointed to the Board of Aldermen at Cassetti’s suggestion in 2018.

However, Cassetti called King a “rogue Alderman” in June 2024 for co-hosting a community event with Democratic state Rep. Kara Rochelle. The Republican Town Committee did not nominate him for a fourth term in July.

King voted against the WPCA sale to Aquarion.

Cassetti is a six-term mayor. He won re-election with about 72 percent of the vote in 2023. Prior to his election in 2013, there had not been a Republican in the mayor’s office since 1997, according to The Connecticut Post.

Currently all the members of the Aldermen board ran on Cassetti’s ticket. In 2022, two Democrats – Alderman Gary Farrar, Jr. and Alderman Joseph Jeanette, Jr. – switched parties to become Republicans.

Election Day is Nov. 4.

CORRECTION: The original version of this story misspelled Gary Farrar’s last name.