Q & A: Outgoing Seymour First Selectman Kurt Miller Talks About New Job In Ansonia

SEYMOUR — Seymour First Selectman Kurt Miller confirmed last week he would be taking a job in Ansonia City Hall as the city’s new chief fiscal officer.

Click here to read a previous Valley Indy story, which includes salary information and a video message from Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti.

The following is an interview with Miller about his decision to leave Seymour Town Hall in order to take a new job in a neighboring town. The interview has been condensed and lightly edited. It is not a transcript of the conversation.

Valley Independent Sentinel: Why leave a town where you’re popular, where you’ve been re-elected multiple times, where you enjoy bi-partisan support, to some extent? You’re in a Shangri-La of local politics up there in Seymour, your hometown. Why make this move to Ansonia?

Kurt Miller: ​“I always wanted to be First Selectman. It was a dream I had since I was a kid, as corny as that sounds. Our goal was to always make it about the process and the people, not about the politics. We’ve done a very good job changing the way that we do business in Seymour by bringing in the right people on our professional staff. (Click here for a previous story in which Miller talks about why he’s deciding to leave Seymour Town Hall). We’ve hit a lot of the goals that I established originally. Now is a good time to move on. This allows my replacement to come in, get his or her feet wet, and start the budget process fresh and establish their priorities.”

Valley Indy: Let’s talk about Ansonia specifically: I am not knocking Ansonia, but in some ways it is the opposite of Seymour. It’s a financially distressed city. The politics there over the last five, six, seven years have been divisive, to say the least. How will you navigate the political waters in Ansonia? Is it a concern?

Miller: ​“It is definitely a concern. I am going to need to spend a lot of time proving to the residents of the City of Ansonia that this is not a political appointment. Good fiscal policies should not be viewed as Republican or Democrat on the municipal level. Ansonia has made great strides. They have built a good foundation. There are still some things that can be done, some ideas that I have, some things that were successful in Seymour that I think will be successful in Ansonia. I think that is one of the reasons Mayor Cassetti wanted me to come in. He has a clear vision of what he wants. We have had many long conversations on policy and some of his goals for Ansonia.”

Valley Indy: I don’t know if I’ve ever seen in a municipality where the no. 1 guy comes in from another town. How are you going to manage that relationship with Mayor Cassetti? Maybe I’m going toward the political gutter, but I can almost hear people typing on social media saying ​‘Kurt Miller is the new mayor of Ansonia.’ That has already been said about (corporation counsel) John Marini.

Miller: ​“Listen, people who say those things don’t know Mayor Cassetti as well as they think. He has a clear vision of Ansonia’s future that he is looking to execute. Over the last few years he has been bringing in people to strengthen the city. I will be working for the mayor. I will be working for the Board of Aldermen. I’m here to execute the visions they have. I feel strongly that the mayor will take my counsel under advisement. That’s what he does with John. But let’s be clear: the decisions are made by the mayor. The mayor calls the shots.”

Valley Indy: I guess the flip side of my last questions is that I would assume this appointment says something about Mayor Cassetti’s ego, or lack thereof? The fact that he would be willing to bring in another top elected official to help him improve his city, his hometown, says something. Is that accurate?

Miller: ​“It can’t be any more accurate. He is a man who can put his own ego aside to do what he feels is the best for the City of Ansonia. His goal is to put the best people in place so the city can succeed. That is leadership. That is understanding your community. That is understanding what he wants for his community. I give him a ton of credit. I don’t think I’m as brave as him, because he is going to get backlash because of this. But I think at the end of the day all Mayor Cassetti cares about is the City of Ansonia.”

Valley Indy: When do you start?

Miller: ​“We’re looking at the middle of October. I don’t have an exact start date. Right now my last scheduled meeting of the Seymour Board of Selectmen is Oct. 6. A meeting Oct. 20 will be run by the Deputy First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis, and at that point the board will pick my successor.”

Valley Indy Is it just you moving from Seymour Town Hall to Ansonia City Hall? Are you bringing any other employees with you?

Miller: ​“It’s just me.”

Valley Indy: I’ve talked to you many times over the last year or two about regionalization discussions that were or are apparently underway between the governments in Ansonia, Derby, and Seymour. The public has been left in the dark on what’s happening. I find it confusing because you say one thing about regionalization, then John Marini in Ansonia talks about forming an economic development corporation, while Mayor Dziekan in Derby is talking about cutting the building official’s hours in Derby or allowing him to resign partial duties because there’s some sort of regionalization discussion happening somewhere. I’m paid to follow this issue, but I find it impossible to track what’s happening.

Miller: ​“The conversations that have been had to date have been more philosophical — what might work, what might not work. We have not made the deep dive into the minutiae. One of the directives I’ll have in Ansonia is to do that — to actually get down to that 100-foot level. Up to know we’ve been talking about it at the 30,000-foot level. I believe there are places, particularly with Ansonia and Derby, that make sense to regionalize. There are opportunities to explore.”

Valley Indy: What other responsibilities come with this new job? Is Ansonia cutting other positions? Does the city have vacant positions they are lumping under this title?

Miller: ​“They had a vacant position in the finance office. The current comptroller, Rich Bshara*, is staying. (The assistant comptroller, Kim Destefano*), she’s staying. My job is also going to be reviewing policies and procedures, looking at how business is conducted, analyzing contracts to see if they can be improved or modified, doing a deep dive into city debt, and to start setting up some more strategic plans. I think one of the reasons Seymour doesn’t have much political fighting is because we established strategic planning committees. Everybody knows what’s going on and what the game plan is. In Ansonia, the mayor has great vision, and one of my goals will be taking that vision and his ideas and putting them out into formalized plans so that everybody understands that step A leads to step B and so on. I think that can limit political fighting because everybody is on the same page. Obviously there is going to be some political fighting, but I believe if people have a clear understanding of what’s going on, they don’t attack it as much, especially if they are a part of the process. There are a lot of smart people in Ansonia, Republican and Democrat. Let’s bring them all to the table and give them a say in the process.”

• City Hall says Bshara is part-time auditor while Destefano is acting comptroller

Valley Indy: Didn’t the comptroller retire?

Miller: ​“Rich is in a part-time, semi-retired mode, but he has a wealth of knowledge that is badly needed to guide Ansonia. It would be very difficult for me to do this job, especially in the first six months, without Rich Bshara there. The institutional knowledge he carries is vitally important. Rich will be staying on. I’m not saying he is staying on forever, but I want him to stay because I think he is very good and I am looking forward to working with him.”