ANSONIA – Mayor Frank Tyszka said his first week on the job in city hall would include talking to new lawyers, looking over the accounting records, and interviewing a candidate for finance director.

Tyszka, a Democrat, beat six-term incumbent Republican David Cassetti in the city’s mayoral election Nov. 4.

Tyszka’s first day on the job was Monday, Dec. 1, one day before he took the oath of office at Ansonia High School.

Meet The New Lawyers

Tyszka said he was scheduled to meet with members of the Androski Law Firm on Wednesday (Dec. 3). The Ansonia-based lawyers have done work for the city going back to 1978.

Tyszka said he plans to hire the firm as the city’s new corporation counsel. They will replace John Marini, a former Alderman who was, along with former economic director Sheila O’Malley, one of the most important players in the former administration.

Tyszka said the Androski Law Firm will officially come aboard Jan. 1.

Hello, DPW

The new mayor said he was also scheduled to meet Wednesday with employees of the department of public works.

Tyszka said a vehicle scale at the city’s transfer station is broken and needs to be fixed so the city can collect money from out-of-towners who use it to discard items.

He said he is appointing Michael D’Alessio as interim superintendent of public works. D’Alessio held the position from 2015 to 2022 under Cassetti. D’Alessio is replacing Timothy Holman, a longtime public works employee who unsuccessfully ran on the Republican line for Second Ward Alderman in November.

Other Changes In The Works

Nancy Spagnolo will serve as Tyszka’s chief of staff. She is also the treasurer for the Town of Bethany, having won election to the position in November.

Spagnolo is a former employee at the state Office of the Treasurer, having worked there from 2019 to 2025, according to her LinkedIn page.

Tyszka said he will have to make three new appointments to the city’s school building commission, a 12-member board responsible for overseeing the $100 million construction of a new middle school. 

The commission has three Republican Aldermen who are no longer Aldermen, so they’ll be replaced by three Democrats. The Ansonia Board of Aldermen went from all-Republican to all-Democrat on Nov. 4.

Tyszka said he’ll appoint Steven Adamowski to the building commission as one of the representatives from the school board. Adamowski is a former Republican Alderman who endorsed Tyszka for mayor. He was elected to the school board Nov. 4.

The other current school building commission members were appointed under Cassetti’s administration in January 2025, with terms expiring in May 2027.

Tyszka criticized a “request for qualifications” sent by the city for the new middle school. The document was meant to solicit an architectural consultant to oversee the project. However, Tyszka pointed out there were errors in the document, such as references to the job being in Madison, not Ansonia. 

He said the middle school construction project is still going ahead, but may be delayed while that document is revised.

Mayor Says There Is A Deficit

Poor fiscal management has been a talking point amongst Ansonia Democrats going back to 2015, when Cassetti was challenged by former Democratic Alderman Ed Adamowski.

In the early “Team Cassetti” days, Democrats said the Republicans were relying on reserves to deliver a stable mill rate, a move that was not sustainable.

The issue picked up steam during the last three years, approximately.

First, the city began including the “use of future revenue” in its budget forecasts. It referred to money the city didn’t have, but expected to get as new developments, particularly in its downtown, came online.

Second, the city sold its sewer system to Aquarion, a private company, for $41 million in December 2024.

The Cassetti administration’s reasons for the sale were somewhat fluid. 

The public was told the sale was needed, in part, because the WPCA’s infrastructure needed repairs that would cost residents millions.

In June, The Valley Indy reported that 43 percent of the sale was used to bolster city budgets, while another 32 percent went toward paying past WPCA debt.

State lawmakers changed a law so that Ansonia would be forced to appear in front of the Municipal Finance Advisory Commission, a third party that is reviewing the city’s audits and budgets.

This week Tyszka said his review of financial statements show a budget deficit of more than $2 million in Ansonia. The Valley Indy asked him in an email to show how he arrived at that dollar amount but did not receive a response.

Tyszka said he will be asking Kurt Miller, the former Seymour First Selectman who works as Ansonia budget director, to review the books with whomever is hired as the new, full-time Ansonia Finance Director.

Tyszka said city departments must spend less. He said layoffs are possible to meet this goal.

“We’re gonna have to make some changes, as far as some of the fat that we don’t have the money to pay these people,” Tyszka said.