Mayor David Cassetti (left) nominated Democrat John Feddern (right) for a seat on a Charter Revision Commission this week. The nomination faced opposition from the Board of Aldermen.
ANSONIA – The Ansonia Board of Aldermen voted to appoint five members to a charter revision commission on Tuesday (April 9), but a tie vote blocked the only Democrat from being installed.
The Aldermen deadlocked 7 – 7 on whether to appoint John Feddern, the former chairman of the Ansonia Democratic Town Committee and the current deputy registrar of voters.
The appointments to the commission were suggested by Mayor David Cassetti. The five other nominees all received unanimous ‘yes’ votes.
Aldermanic President Josh Shuart had the power to break the tie over Feddern, but he instead opted to send the appointment back to the mayor’s office.
In a phone call with the Valley Indy, Cassetti said he was disappointed that Feddern’s appointment was rejected. He said he would look for other Democrats to propose in Feddern’s place.
“I’m disappointed about John Feddern, because I thought he’d be a good fit, being a former leader of the Democratic Party and understanding a lot of things,” Cassetti said.
The mayor’s attempt to appoint Feddern is a far cry from 2022, when the mayor and he locked horns over Cassetti’s refusal to appoint Democrats suggested by Democrats to fill open spots on the tax board. Click here for that story.
In an email, Feddern said that his rejection this week was a result of personal politics.
“I assume votes against were due to my affiliation with the Democratic Town Committee, and my time as chairman in 2022 – 23,” Feddern wrote. “I suppose I made more enemies than I was aware of - – - but considering that I am now in the non-partisan position of Deputy Registrar of Voters, I thought we had gotten past the pettiness.”
The 14-member Ansonia Board of Aldermen is an all-Republican board, except for Alderwoman Bobbie Tar, who is unaffiliated but runs with the Republicans.
What’s A Charter?
The Ansonia Charter is the city’s blueprint detailing how to run the local government. Members of a charter revision commission discuss whether to make changes to the document.
Those changes, should they move through the process, are ultimately decided by residents in a public vote.
This charter revision commission is being formed because the Cassetti administration – during a previous charter change process – inserted rigorous budget deadlines into the charter that officials now say are a disservice to the public. Click here and here for previous Valley Indy stories.
The Appointed
Ansonia’s previous charter revision commissions under Mayor Cassetti had rocky starts. In 2015 and 2018 they had to restart their appointment processes because they ran afoul of state law.
State law requires that no more than a third of commission members may hold public office, and that no more than a bare majority may be from a single party. Past commissions violated the “public office” requirement.
Cassetti’s proposed list meets the state requirements. However, all but one of the members approved by the Aldermen have family ties to city administration.
Cassetti’s list given to the Aldermen for approval this week were:
* Fifth Ward Alderman Joseph Jaumann (Republican)
* Patrick Sheridan (Republican)
* John Feddern (Democrat) (not appointed)
* Kay Jeanette (unaffiliated)
* Lena Levinsky (Republican)
* Robert MacDowell (unaffiliated)
State law governing charter revision commissions requires different parties be represented as a check and balance on one party power.
The two unaffiliated members appointed have ties to ‘Team Cassetti’ Republicans.
Kay Jeanette is married to Republican Third Ward Aldermen Joseph Jeanette, Jr., who left the Ansonia Democrats in 2022 to join ‘Team Cassetti.’
Robert MacDowell is married to Mayor Cassetti’s niece.
Mayor Cassetti said he appointed everyone who asked him for a spot on the commission.
“Mr. MacDowell was on the last (charter revision commission), he said ‘I would like to be on it again,’ okay, no problem,” Cassetti said. “Kay Jeanette approached me, Lena Levinsky approached me, I said sure.”
Ansonia Democratic Town Committee Chairman Dave Hannon said his committee was not asked to recommend a Democrat to the commission, but he supported Feddern.
He said he didn’t know enough about the members to comment on the appointments.
“It would have been nice if he had reached out to me or someone on the DTC (Democratic Town Committee) for input on who should be the Democratic representative, although I have no problem with John being on it,” Hannon said. “But it would have been nice had we had some communication, but we don’t.”
Cassetti said he tried to set up a meeting with Hannon, but that the meeting never happened.
Feddern, for his part, said he liked Cassetti’s list.
“I thought that, as composed, it represented a fine mix of Ansonians with different perspectives and experiences. I still hope to be a part of it,” Feddern wrote in an email. “I feel I bring a unique perspective, one that the Mayor recognized as valuable to the future of the city.”
Tuesday’s Vote
The Aldermen’s vote to appoint the mayor’s recommendations took some twists and turns.
The vote was originally 7 — 5 in favor of appointing Feddern.
Alderman Daniel King originally abstained from voting, and Alderwoman Bobbi Tar did not respond when her name was called to vote. The Aldermen then voted to confirm the rest of the commission appointments.
After the other appointments had been confirmed, however, Tar came back and entered a “nay” vote on Feddern’s appointment. Then, with the vote at 7 — 6 in favor, King withdrew his abstention and entered another “nay,” tying the vote.
Alderman Steven Adamowski asked whether King’s change in vote was allowed, to which city corporation counsel John Marini said that it was. Shuart then declined to step in and break the tie.
“This is a strange thing, and I’d like to give (Cassetti) respect, I’d like to give him the option of doing what he wants to do,” Shuart said to the board.
Aldermen Gary Farrar, Steven Adamowski, Joseph Cassetti, Joe Jeanette, Robert Knott, Nate Hardy, and Josh Shuart voted in favor of appointing Feddern.
Aldermen Daniel King, Bobbi Tar, Joseph Jaumann, Chicago Rivers, Tony Mammone, Tony Levinsky, and Mario Durante voted against.
The Valley Indy reached out to each of the Aldermen who voted against Feddern’s appointment. Alderman Rivers said that the vote was nothing personal.
“I just didn’t think that he was the right fit to go on that board,” Alderman Rivers said.
Alderman King said he did not want to be quoted for this article. The five remaining Aldermen did not respond to requests for comment.
What’s Next?
Following Feddern’s rejection, Cassetti said he will propose at least one new Democrat to the Aldermen at their next regular meeting on May 14. Until then, the commission is on hold.
If the Aldermen vote to approve Cassetti’s replacement, then the commission will have four months to finalize their proposed changes to the charter. During that time, state law requires that they hold at least two public hearings to discuss these changes.
Any changes recommended after the hearings will be sent to voters for a referendum. The deadline for any questions to be added to the ballot this November is Sept. 20, according to the state election calendar.
