Valuable experience and a desire to keep helping the town amidst difficult financial times are the reasons Bob Koskelowski gave as to why he will seek a ninth term as the town’s First Selectman.
Koskelowski officially declared toward the end of Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting that he will seek another term in office. Town Republicans will caucus next Thursday to determine the party’s candidates for the November elections.
Koskelowski, 64, said he still has the desire to serve the town and said he was told several times by residents to run again. He served as first selectman from 1983 to 1993. He is currently serving his third consecutive two-year term.
“I’m a hands-on type of individual and I know what has to be done in the next two years,” he said, including holding off on property revaluations because residents are having a hard time paying taxes. “I don’t want to let the people down by leaving them in a crisis.”
The decision comes more than a week after Koskelowski’s son, Brian, was arrested by state police on a criminal impersonation charge.
Police said Brian Koskelowski used a blue light bar on his minivan to pull over another motorist on Route 8 near Exit 25. He was also charged with reckless driving and unauthorized use of emergency lights.
Brian Koskelowski later said he was not trying to pull the other driver over, but was only trying to alert him that he was there. Brian Koskelowski has since resigned as chairman of the Seymour Republican Town Committee.
“[Brian] is an adult and he’s responsible for his actions…and what he decides in his life, I cannot change anything. And if they’re poor decisions, then that person has to pay the price,” Bob Koskelowski said.
The first selectman said people have and should look at him and his own work in the town rather than his family members.
“It was an easy decision for me to want to continue with the remaining years I have to serve the people of Seymour,” Bob Koskelowski.
Koskelowski’s likely November opponent will be Democratic Selectman Paul F. Roy, who previously announced his intentions to run for the town’s top office. Seymour Democrats will also select their slate of candidates next Thursday.
