Dugatto Sets Up Blight Subcommittee

New Derby Mayor Anita Dugatto presided over her first meeting of the Derby Board of Aldermen Thursday (Dec. 19).

Dugatto, already in the local history books as the city’s first female mayor, made brief remarks welcoming Derby government’s new team.

“I call upon you to work as we fulfill our commitment to those who elected us,” Dugatto said. ​“Our team will be lending their experience to our mission. It is an honor to serve with all of you.”

New Lawyer

She introduced new corporation counsel Kevin Blake, who previously served as corporation counsel in Ansonia under former Mayor James Della Volpe.

Of note for local lawmaker feng shi enthusiasts and political junkies — Blake sits at a separate table, a few feet away from the Aldermanic table. It’s a call back to Alderman Art Gerckens’ ​“big table” issue raised last year.

Blight Busters

Dugatto established a new subcommittee of the Board of Aldermen Thursday to deal only with blight issues in the city.

Dugatto named Alderman Carmen DiCenso to the blight subcommittee, along with newly-elected Aldermen David Anroman and Anthony DeFala, Sr.

All three are Democrats on the board, where there are seven Democrats and two Republicans.

Dugatto said blight — that is, rundown properties, vacant houses and similar neighborhood nuisances — was a constant issue she heard from residents while she went door to door during the mayoral campaign.

Previously blight issues had been brought to the full board through the Community Relations subcommittee. Dugatto said she hopes setting up a subcommittee to deal exclusively with blight will make enforcement of the current blight laws more effective.

In Derby, two part-time blight inspectors respond to and investigate blight complaints. They attempt to work with property owners to get properties cleaned up if, in fact, there’s a problem.

The blight inspectors make recommendations, through the city’s building official, to an Aldermen subcommittee about properties to place on the city’s blight list, where property owners can face fines of $100 a day if they do nothing to address the issues.

The Board of Aldermen have the final say on which properties are added to the list. Blight has been a tough issue for the Aldermen to tackle, mostly because the implosion of the housing market starting in about 2008 led to so many abandoned or foreclosed homes. The fines rack up, no one pays and the Aldermen are eventually put into a position where a new buyer wants to acquire a property, but says a purchase can’t go through unless the city gives a break on the blight fine.

Now blight won’t be under the umbrella of the Community Relations subcommittee.

“We’re just trying to focus after the blight inspectors identify blight. We want to concentrate on blight more as it goes through the process,” Dugatto said.

Other Appointments

Dugatto appointed Barbara DeGennaro, the president of the Board of Aldermen, to the Operations and Procedures subcommittee, along with Steven Iacuone and David Lenart. DeGennaro and Iacuonne are Democrats, Lenart is Republican.

Democrats Ron Sill and Art Gerckens were appointed to the Community Relations subcommittee, along with newly-elected Republican Alderman Peter Olenoski.

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