FILE PHOTO
Seymour Democratic Town Committee Chairman Stephan Behuniak (left) and Seymour First Selectman Kurt Miller (right) after a podcast recording in 2017.
SEYMOUR — The Democratic Town Committee issued a statement to The Valley Indy Thursday asserting that the next First Selectmen should be someone who works in town and is not picked through “backroom political dealings.”
The statement, which is posted here, is in response to the news that Seymour First Selectman Kurt Miller is vacating his seat in town hall to take a position as the chief fiscal officer in Ansonia City Hall.
Miller, a Republican, is in the middle of his fifth, two-year term in Seymour.
The Democrats characterize Miller as “abandoning” his responsibilities to the citizens of Seymour.
“When elected, you are signing a contract with the people who elected you. To abandon your position in the middle of your term for personal gain is a blatant breach of this contract,” the DTC statement read.
The Board of Selectmen, on which Republicans hold a 5 – 2 advantage over Democrats, will convene to choose a new First Selectmen from among themselves later this month.
In the statement, the Democratic Town Committee points out Miller’s successor will have not been elected by the people.
This “leaves the town with a leader who was never elected to the position and promoted based on backroom political dealings,” the statement reads.
Miller dismissed the accusation that he’s abandoning Seymour. He described it as a political cheap shot.
“I’m leaving and they’re going after me. That’s fine. This is a group that continually loses elections in Seymour. I’m not going to dignify that with a response,” Miller said.
The outgoing First Selectmen did respond to the notion that backroom politics is in play, calling it an insult to the Board of Selectmen, including its two Democratic members.
“Someone on the Democratic Town Committee should try reading the charter. And they should read the legal opinion we have from our corporation counsel. The selection comes from the Board of Selectmen. We’re following the charter,” Miller said. “Shame on the Democratic Town Committee for disrespecting the Board of Selectmen in that way.”
The statement from the DTC also states that while the group trusts the “Board of Selectmen will make an informed decision as who will take over the role,” the Democrats have “some serious conditions that we believe that the interim First Selectman should meet before being considered.”
The conditions, according to the statement (posted in full here), include:
- The new First Selectman must be someone “with no other employer outside of the Town of Seymour,” and;
- The new First Selectman should “swear that they will fulfill the remainder of the full term.”
On occasion, Seymour Democrats, including Stephan Behuniak, the town committee’s chairman, have questioned whether Miller paid full attention to Seymour matters. It was a complaint lodged in 2019 when Miller was hired a $30,000 budget consultant to the City of Ansonia.
Seymour’s town charter specifies the First Selectman’s position is “full time.”
Formal changes or requirements would have to go through a Charter Revision process.
“The Seymour Town Charter in Section 5.1 provides that the First Selectman shall not hold any other civil office , except for notary public and Justice of the Peace. Section 5.2 further provides the First Selectman shall ‘work full time at his position’,” Richard Buturla, Seymour’s corporation counsel, said in an email.
Richard Demko, chairman of the Seymour Republican Town Committee, said town officials are following the correct process to pick Miller’s replacement. No one can insert “conditions.”
“Neither the Minority Representation by the Democratic Party or Elected Majority of the Republican Party in this town has anything to do with picking, nominating or asking for conditions during this process,” Demko said.
