Shelton’s Board of Apportionment and Taxation has not met since May 24.
And in light of the recent news about a criminal probe into the city’s finance office, some members think a special meeting is in order.
The problem? They haven’t been able to reach Chairman Chris Besescheck, who is resigning effective “midnight of August 30th,” citing out-of-state work obligations.
The task of finding a replacement for Besescheck falls to the Republican Town Committee.
Anthony Simonetti, a city Aldermen and the head of Shelton’s RTC, said Wednesday that “we’re working on it as we speak.”
He said Republicans had identified candidates to fill the vacancy and would probably come to a decision within one to two weeks.
“We have a plan in place but at this time I’m not at liberty to talk about it,” Simonetti said. “We have at least two people that we’re very high on and could be very good candidates.”
Besescheck could not be reached for comment. Calls to his cell phone Tuesday and Wednesday were answered with an automated message saying “The person you are trying to reach is not accepting calls at this time.” His resignation letter appears at the end of this story.
The board has a vice chairman, Jimmy Tickey, a Democrat, who said he’s tried to reach out to Besescheck — unsuccessfully — to call a special meeting.
“In light of recent events, I do think it’s important we meet,” Tickey said. “(The investigation) is going to have some impact on A&T. The Board did not meet in July and I believe a meeting this month is necessary so that we can move forward with our responsibilities.”
Board members said they haven’t yet received monthly reports on the city’s budget, nor a statement of how the city wrapped up the fiscal year, which ended June 30.
That’s not a surprise, considering the City Hall employee tasked with compiling those numbers was Sharon Scanlon, the assistant finance director who resigned last week under threat of being fired amid a criminal probe into theft of city funds.
Meanwhile, a board subcommittee — tasked with opening bids for contracts on city work — has been meeting, and is scheduled to again Thursday (Aug. 30) at 6 p.m.
Tickey wanted a meeting of the full board scheduled Thursday too, but said he hasn’t heard back from Besescheck, whose resignation won’t take effect until afterward.
If he still hasn’t heard by then, Tickey said he’ll try to call a meeting himself.
“If Friday comes around, we’ll see what happens,” he said.
Another Democratic board member, Wayne Bragg, said he’d like the board to meet soon, too.
“I certainly would like to see where we are in terms of understanding of what the next steps are,” Bragg said, referring to the vacancy left by Besescheck’s departure. “Given the investigation and so on it’s important that the board gets itself reconstituted quickly.”
Bragg stressed that his concerns weren’t politically motivated and that he wasn’t pointing fingers at anyone — he just wants to know what’s going on.
“Any time a member resigns, and particularly when it’s the chairman, I think it’s important,” he said. “This is a team, this is a very important job we’ve been given. I just want to make sure we’re all on the same page.”
Like Tickey, Bragg said he’s still waiting for the reports on how the city wrapped up the fiscal year.
“I personally sent several e‑mails to Sharon requesting the information, and didn’t get a response,” Bragg said.
Asked if he raised concerns to anyone else about not getting the information, he wouldn’t say, though he added: “Most of our coordination with the Finance Department has been very collegial. It was just a little unusual that we didn’t get responses to our requests for information.”
Charlotte Madar, a Republican board member, said Wednesday she isn’t concerned because Shelton Aldermen have ultimate control over city finances.
“I don’t see any real need for (a special meeting),” she said. “There’s no crisis. We’re not in budget season.”
“Should any urgent, urgent thing come up, all we have to do is turn it over to the Board of Aldermen,” Madar went on. “Mayor Lauretti could fill in on A&T at any given moment if there were something urgent that had to be voted on at all or passed.”
A message was left Wednesday for John Belden Jr., the board’s other Republican member besides Madar and Besescheck.
The other member of the board, Democrat Judson Crawford, said Wednesday that he has been aware of the issue but wanted to see what happens at Thursday night’s meeting before saying anything publicly.
