There was a point in the meeting where Republican Alderman Joe Bomba was holding court, peppering Derby Public Works Director Ron Culmo with questions about snow removal from Derby streets.
The discussion didn’t get heated — but in case it did, 12-year-old Anthony Bartholomew of Derby had his eye on the gavel, ready to throw it down on the table at Tuesday’s Board of Aldermen meeting.
“If they had started going back and forth for 10 minutes, I would’ve (banged the gavel),” Anthony said, smiling, after the meeting.
Anthony, a seventh-grade honors student at the Barnard Environmental Magnet School in New Haven, was Derby’s “Mayor for a Day” Tuesday.
The well-spoken young man spent the day in Derby City Hall, getting an insider’s view of local government.
He declined to leak any city secrets to the Valley Indy, but said he enjoyed the vault connected to Town Clerk Laura Wabno’s office.
“I went into a big vault where all the records are. There was stuff from the 1700s in there,” Anthony said.
Andrew ran Tuesday’s Aldermen meeting with Mayor Anthony Staffieri providing guidance. By 30 minutes in, Anthony was calling out “Is there a second on that motion?” as if he authored Robert’s Rules of Order.
His proud parents — Felicia Monaco and Richard Bartholomew — had wide smiles across their faces at their son ran the meeting.
Was he nervous?
“Not really. It was fun,” he said.
The experience he gained will help him toward a merit badge with the local Troop 3 Boy Scouts.
