Sheila O’Malley
SEYMOUR — Sheila O’Malley, Ansonia’s economic development director and grant writer, is one of two finalists for a part-time economic development director’s position in Seymour.
The decision on whether to hire O’Malley could happen at a Board of Selectmen meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday (Oct. 5). An agenda for the meeting was not posted as of 6 a.m. Oct. 4. The meeting was canceled later Monday.
The town hired a part-time economic development consultant from the Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC) in March 2019, but CERC stopped offering the service eight months later.
Fred Messore, a Realtor, was Seymour’s part-time economic director from 2011 to 2017.
The Board of Selectmen has spent the past few weeks interviewing candidates, and has set its sights on two contenders for the part-time position. First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis said there were five applicants for the position, which would pay an annual salary of $45,000.
If hired by a vote of the Board of Selectmen, O’Malley is expected to stay on in Ansonia while also working for Seymour.
The fact O’Malley is a finalist for the job is not surprising.
The Valley Indy first reported O’Malley was a candidate for the Seymour job back in May 2020.
Under O’Malley’s watch, Main Street Ansonia has turned into a destination for foodies, with a growing number of independent, eclectic eateries. Apartments are being constructed in long under-utilized buildings on Main Street, a new police department is under construction within a building on Main Street, and millions of grants are flowing into the city to revitalize long-blighted old factories downtown.
Prior to her years in Ansonia, O’Malley served as economic development director and grant writer under Mayor Anthony Staffieri in Derby.
Michael Marcinek, a member of the Seymour Economic Development Commission and a business owner in Ansonia, expressed his support for O’Malley being hired in Seymour at a public meeting of his commission in April 2020.
But O’Malley has been known to mix it up politically. She sparred with Derby Democratic tax board member Anita Dugatto in Derby before Dugatto was elected mayor, and was trading partisan jabs with Democratic candidates for Aldermen during a planning and zoning meeting in Ansonia on Sept. 20.
Stephan Behuniak, the chairman of the Seymour Democratic Town Committee, said in 2020 he does not support hiring O’Malley, and he still doesn’t support her now that she’s a front runner for the job.
On Sept. 10 Behuniak published a sarcastic Tweet about Derby possibly hiring a full-time economic development director, writing that Derby “should be more like Seymour and try to force through the hiring of someone who does the same job in a neighboring city and make the role part-time!”
Behuniak’s Tweet drew a Tweet in response from Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis: “Seymour advertised for three months for this position. Out of the five applicants and we are down to the final two. I am not sure where you get the forcing through.”
In an email exchange with The Valley Indy, Behuniak said O’Malley’s probable hiring “stinks of politics.”
“There are a number of reasons that I think hiring Sheila would be really bad,” Behuniak wrote. “It is my position, and I know that multiple Selectmen share the same position, that Seymour should not be in the business of hiring people who are serving and will be continuing to serve in the same role in a neighboring town. It would be especially egregious to hire someone for part-time work who works full-time in another town.”
Behuniak said O’Malley will favor Ansonia over Seymour because Ansonia pays her more money.
“I could never trust someone to put the needs of Seymour first if the bulk of their salary is coming from one of our closest, and perhaps most competitive neighbors,” he wrote.
While Behuniak said he’s a fan of regionalizing some services, like emergency services, education and town planning, economic development is not one of them.
“This position should be full-time and I would love to see what the applicant pool would look like if it were,” Behuniak said.
Drugonis noted the town has not made a decision about the position. But she doesn’t see a problem if O’Malley were hired.
“Shelia’s resume and work speaks for itself,” Drugonis said. “Shelia has written many grants and has received the money for the towns and cities she has worked for, including Waterbury, Derby, Shelton and Ansonia. Shelia has shown that she can work with small and big businesses.”
Drugonis also doesn’t view hiring someone that works for another town as a conflict, but rather something Seymour can truly benefit from.
“When we have someone from the Valley Council of Governments that works for us as a contractor and other nearby towns, is that a conflict?” Drugonis said. “What works for Ansonia may not work for Seymour, and what works for Seymour may not work for Ansonia. We are about the same size community, except Ansonia has more developable land than Seymour. Seymour has a lot of open space that can’t be developed, and we do not really have a Main Street like Ansonia or a Bridgeport Avenue like Shelton. All of the cities and towns in the Valley are unique in their own way. We all have are our strengths and weaknesses. Ansonia and Seymour complement each other; we border each other and can feed off each other.”
O’Malley said if hired, it would be on a consultant basis, and she would work for Seymour when she’s not on the clock in Ansonia. As for Behuniak’s skepticism of her, O’Malley believes he has it wrong.
“I think Mr. Behuniak is confused,” O’Malley said. “If hired, I would be an independent contractor working on my own time and not as a part-time or full time employee. As for devoting the time and attention Seymour needs, I let my results speak for themselves. I am results driven and that’s the bottom line. We don’t want to think about economic development as existing in a vacuum. There are increasing opportunities for regional economic development projects and grants to support those activities. I will take advantage of those opportunities wherever available to make both Ansonia and Seymour stronger and better. I look forward to working with the First Selectwoman to help revitalize and grow Seymour.”
