(Left to right) Derby Parking Enforcement Officer Daniel Reid and Derby Mayor Rich Dziekan outside the Derby parking garage on March 31.
DERBY — A refurbished Derby parking garage remains the city’s white whale after Mayor Rich Dziekan’s request for a $9.1 million state grant was rejected. However, the city has a chance to apply again for the much-needed money, and the mayor is touting new security measures at the downtown garage as a win.
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Eugene Driscoll | Feb 28, 2023 6:16 pm
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Wikimedia Commons
Derby City Hall (Wikimedia Commons Photo)
DERBY – The mayor’s chief of staff said on Monday that the chairman of the city’s tax board is “going rogue” by scheduling a meeting last week without the mayor’s involvement.
“The mayor is the one who schedules meetings. The chairman is not the one who schedules meetings. If something needs to be put on the agenda, it goes through the mayor’s office,” Walt Mayhew, Mayor Rich Dziekan’s chief of staff, said.
However, Roberto Santos, the chairman of the tax board, said the mayor is allowing Mayhew to control and politicize the Derby budget process.
Santos said Mayhew is controlling the finance department, has refused to share documents from the finance office with elected officials, and has canceled the last two tax board meetings even though its members wanted to meet.
“Walter has hijacked the budget and wants to control everything,” Santos said. “There are supposed to be checks and balances. I refuse to be his puppet.”
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Eugene Driscoll | Feb 2, 2023 10:52 am
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SEYMOUR — Seymour detectives traced a bank account to a Maryland-based limited liability company which eventually led them to a suspect accused of swindling money from the town in a cyberscam.
The information comes from an arrest warrant affidavit used by police to lodge first-degree larceny charges against 48-year-old Charles Ukasanya of Gaithersburg, Maryland.
In a press release issued Wednesday, Seymour Police Chief John Bucherati noted the investigation is not closed. Police did not mention whether more arrests are expected.
Earlier this year police and town officials acknowledged the town had been bilked out of $375,000.
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Jean Falbo-Sosnovich & Eugene Driscoll | Jan 24, 2023 10:58 pm
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SEYMOUR — Three months after discovering someone scammed $375,000 from the town, officials still haven’t explained to the public how the crime happened.
First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis and Chief of Police John Bucherati have released selected information, while saying other info can’t be released because of the investigation.
Example — they recently announced that it looks like the town will be able to recover at least half of the stolen loot.
“Through a very complex investigation we discovered that Bank of America flagged a transaction (of $182,000) as suspicious, and they set the money aside. The town is in the process of recovering the funds,” Bucherati told The Valley Indy on Monday.
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Jean Falbo-Sosnovich | Dec 15, 2022 3:49 pm
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An illustration of the just-approved complex.
ANSONIA– Construction is expected to get underway in March on an estimated $15 million sports training complex slated for Olson Drive.
That’s according to developer John Guedes, whose redevelopment plans received unanimous approval from the Ansonia Planning and Zoning Commission at its Nov. 28 meeting.
Guedes, who is president and CEO of Primrose Companies, plans to transform the property at 107 – 165 Olson Dr. across from the Naugatuck River into a hub for soccer and athletic training. His development calls for construction of two buildings. A 39,000-square foot building would house indoor soccer, along with an outdoor soccer field. Ole Soccer, a soccer business, is scheduled to lease the space.
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Eugene Driscoll | Nov 30, 2022 8:30 pm
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State Rep. Kara Rochelle was recently elected to her third term representing Derby and Ansonia in Hartford.
ANSONIA/DERBY — The chairman of the Ansonia Town Republican Committee called on state Rep. Kara Rochelle to resign after court testimony reported Tuesday by The CT Mirror alleged that Rochelle was intimately linked to corrupt politico Michael DiMassa, the person who arranged for her to be paid $5,000 as a consultant to the City of West Haven.
“The residents of the 104th deserve better and call for her immediate resignation,” Anthony Mammone, the chairman of the Ansonia Republican Town Committee, said in a statement to The Valley Indy.
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Jean Falbo-Sosnovich | Nov 28, 2022 9:23 pm
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A screen shot from the YouTube video of the Oct. 18 meeting of the Seymour Board of Selectpersons.
SEYMOUR — The Seymour Police Department and the FBI are investigating a cybercrime that swindled town government out of $375,000, The Valley Independent Sentinel has learned.
“The Town of Seymour is victim to a cybercrime perpetuated by an unknown party,” according to a statement from Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis and Seymour Town Attorney Richard Buturla. “The Office of the First Selectwoman ordered an immediate investigation into how this fraud occurred. In addition, the Seymour Police Department was instructed to immediately initiate a criminal investigation into this matter.”
The statement was issued after The Valley Indy started asking questions about the matter.
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Jean Falbo-Sosnovich | Oct 20, 2022 8:42 am
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A screen shot from the YouTube video of the Oct. 18 meeting of the Seymour Board of Selectpersons.
SEYMOUR — The members of the Board of Selectpersons met behind closed doors Tuesday night (Oct. 18) to discuss a privileged communication with its attorney.
Executive sessions are closed to the public and are allowed under state law under specific circumstances, such as talking about lawsuits, specific employees, real estate deals — and to receive legal advice. No votes are allowed to be taken in executive session, and it is against the law to change subjects while in private.
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Eugene Driscoll | Aug 18, 2022 6:52 am
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DERBY — On Wednesday the mayor’s office released the resignation letter sent Monday by finance director Agata Herasimowicz.
The letter does not go into detail about why Herasimowicz decided to submit her two-week notice less than two months after the Derby Board of Aldermen & Alderwomen voted 8 – 1 to reinstate her after she had been put on administrative leave in March by Derby Mayor Rich Dziekan.
“I am writing to let you know that I will be resigning from my position and my last day will be August 26, 2022. If there is anything I can do to support this transition, I am available to help if needed,” according to the letter from Herasimowicz released by the mayor’s office.
