Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti (left) with new Derby Mayor Joe DiMartino.
DERBY — Joseph DiMartino was sworn in as the city’s 32nd mayor during a ceremony Saturday at Derby High School.
During his inauguration speech, DiMartino promised to give his full attention to the complicated issues facing Connecticut’s smallest city. He promised transparency from his administration, saying he will treat the office and the people of Derby with respect.
“It is a great honor and also a great privilege,” DiMartino said after taking the oath of office with eight family members by his side. “It is a privilege that I take very seriously and will treat with the respect that it deserves. The respect of the office and the people who elected me means that I will show up everyday to do the job and treat our citizens with decency and respect. The city’s business will be conducted with transparency.”
Derby resident Jack Walsh livestreamed the ceremony to Facebook. It is embedded below.
DiMartino, 57, is a retired Derby Public Works employee and former Derby High School softball coach. He most recently worked as a school suspension monitor for Derby Public Schools, but said he was giving up that job to become Derby’s full-time mayor.
DiMartino, a Democrat, previously served as an Alderman representing Derby’s Second Ward for 10 years. He ran as a Republican for some of those years on the board. He and his wife, Lori, have been married for 33 years. They have four daughters and two grandsons.
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz administered the oath of office to DiMartino. She said DiMartino has a long record of community service and a solid work ethic, qualities needed to be an effective Derby leader.
“He is a person who loves Derby. Clearly, Derby loves him back,” Bysiewicz said.
DiMartino captured about 44 percent of the vote to win a four-way race for mayor on Nov. 7. Three-term incumbent Mayor Rich Dziekan placed second, garnering 25 percent of the vote, according to the secretary of state’s website.
DiMartino acknowledged the fact he didn’t get 50 percent of the vote to get elected because of the crowded mayoral race.
“While I appreciate the huge margin of victory, I am mindful that the people of Derby will be watching to see that we govern respectfully and with integrity. We will earn their trust,” the new mayor said.
DiMartino, a 1985 Derby High School graduate, is taking office at a time when Derby’s financial practices have been questioned by an outside agency.
The city had been meeting with the state’s Municipal Advisory Finance Commission (MFAC) on a voluntary basis since September 2020 because of budgeting mistakes that caused the Dziekan administration to create an economic “recovery plan” to get the city back on track. Click here to read about the plan.
Dziekan repeatedly pointed out the mistakes were made prior to his election as mayor in 2017.
However, in August, MFAC members, citing a lack of progress, voted to designate Derby a “tier 1” municipality. The vote made Derby’s appearances mandatory. Some MFAC members questioned the accuracy of the financial data being submitted by Derby and expressed concerns over the lack of straight answers coming from the city.
MFAC pointed out in a letter that Derby’s June 30, 2022 audit showed the city used $1.9 million in fund balance to close a hole in the budget — while previously budgeting for a $1.1 million surplus.
“The city and board of education were unable to fully explain the $3 million difference between the city’s projections and the audited results,” according to the MFAC letter to the city.
On the campaign trail, DiMartino called for a forensic audit of Derby’s financial dealings. About a week after he was elected, the Derby Board of Aldermen and Alderwomen voted to look for a firm to hire to conduct a forensic audit.
During his speech at his inauguration ceremony on Saturday, DiMartino said the task to get to the bottom of Derby finances will start Monday morning at Derby City Hall.
On the campaign trail, DiMartino said one of his top priorities will be finding a qualified person to become Derby’s finance director, a position that has been vacant since August 2022. MFAC has questioned why the position has been vacant for so long, and why the job seems to be treated as a political position in Derby.
DiMartino becomes mayor after a tumultuous two years in Derby politics.
After being elected to a third term, Dziekan brought in Walt Mayhew as chief of staff in January 2022. The pair, using opinions from the corporation counsel, changed the way public meetings were run in Derby. While the Dziekan administration said they were simply following the procedure from the Derby Charter, the changes were made while the Democrats held a majority on the Board of Aldermen & Alderwomen. They bristled at many of the changes, such as eliminating subcommittee meetings in the city.
The end result was a stagnant government, with routine clashes over procedure between Derby Democrats and the administration. At the same time, Dziekan eventually lost the support of the Derby Republican Town Committee, who opted to endorse Second Ward Alderman Gino DiGiovanni for mayor. Dziekan also lost the support of elected officials who previously worked on his re-election campaigns, such as Alderman Rob Hyder and Jim Gildea, a longtime member of the Derby Board of Education.
Voters on Nov. 7 reacted, too. Derby Democrats won every seat on the Board of Aldermen & Alderwomen, something that’s never happened in the 14 year history of this publication. The Democrats hold a 6 – 4 majority on the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation, and a 6 – 3 majority on the Derby Board of Education.
All winners from Nov. 7 were sworn-in during Saturday’s one-hour ceremony at Derby High School. After the ceremony, members of the Derby school board elected Jim Gildea as chairman. The tax board chose Colleen Ezzo as chairwoman and Sarah Widomski was re-elected as president of the Derby BOA/A.
For purposes of this article, people who were endorsed by Democrats and whose names appeared on the public ballot under the Democratic line are being referred to as Democrats.
DiMartino and his wife, Lori, met some 38 years ago while attending Derby High School. They have four daughters: Karissa 32, Jordyn 30, Lacey 24, and Kaelyn 16. They have 2 grandsons: Joey, 1, Jaxson, 4 months, according to this post.
The list of candidates sworn-in on Saturday is on the image below.
