The Board of Selectmen voted to go back to the drawing board Wednesday night (Sept. 24) in its search to find a new town administrator, unanimously voting to reopen the posting for that position after failing to approve a potential candidate in executive session.
A Special Meeting of BOS was scheduled with an executive-session discussion of a candidate that was, according to the agenda, “Recommended by the Majority of the Town Administrator Personnel Search Committee.”
The town administrator search committee includes all five members of the BOS, along with Lori Bufano, a Board of Education member who formerly served on the BOS, who was not in attendance Wednesday night.
The executive session ran close to an hour and was often noisy and apparently contentious, based on raised voices behind closed doors that were audible to multiple members of the public in the hallway outside the meeting room at Comstock Community Center.
The meeting agenda also noticed that the executive session would include discussion of a possible employment offer for that particular preferred candidate.
While none of the search committee members provided information about any of the candidates, other sources have said that there were two top candidates under consideration as of Wednesday — an unnamed person who was the candidate favored by the majority of TAPSC members, and Jeff Rutishauser, who was said to be First Selectman Toni Boucher‘s first choice.
Rutishauser, the Republican former Board of Finance chair, was recently appointed by Boucher, also a Republican, to chair the Wilton Capital Planning Committee. Last month, Boucher also appointed Rutishauser to the search committee to find a new Chief Financial Officer for the town following the sudden departure of Dawn Norton.
Rutishauser did not respond to a request from GOOD Morning Wilton for comment on his seeking the town administrator position or the process involved.
In the meeting’s public session on Wednesday night, BOS members chose to forego the possible action item of extending an offer to any candidate. Instead, without any public discussion, the BOS unanimously voted to “extend the employment-process timetable for the hiring of the town administrator and … reopen the posting and have it remain posted until the position is filled.”
Asked after the meeting about specifics regarding the candidate search and deliberations, Boucher expressed concerns about information being made public.
“Unfortunately, these are all executive session topics and names of any prospects should never be made public,” Boucher wrote in an email to GOOD Morning Wilton. “It is unfortunate that any member of the search committee has disclosed any information as they were required to keep confidential all information.”
“We may need to remind them as it is a disservice to the process,” she said.
Boucher also suggested that a GOOD Morning Wilton reporter that was in attendance at Wednesday night’s meeting was eavesdropping on the executive session, notwithstanding details that have been learned through reporting via other sources.
“Given the questions, was the media listening to our executive session as we were in agreement in the public meeting?” Boucher wrote. “All discussions in executive session are to remain confidential and private.”
During executive session, members of the public in the hallway outside the meeting room and several feet away from the closed door — as is the public right — could clearly hear raised voices and yelling coming from inside the meeting room for much of the nearly one-hour session.
When reminded of this, Boucher responded, “Although it is normal for members to disagree we all believe that we can work together towards reaching a consensus in the end. That is why we had a unanimous vote tonight to keep the position posted for a while longer. Our primary focus at the moment, however, is on the very important CFO position. We are sorting through dozens of applications daily and look forward to having good news to report as we interview the candidates who, fortunately for us, have excellent relevant qualifications for our current needs.”
GOOD Morning Wilton reached out to all four other BOS members to provide them with an opportunity to answer questions or share their reactions.
Selectwoman Kim Healy and Second Selectman Josh Cole were the only ones to respond, but both declined to offer details or comment on executive session matters.
GOOD Morning Wilton also reached out to Selectmen Rich McCarty and Ross Tartell, but received no reply.
As the search continues, Matt Knickerbocker, whose three-year contract as Wilton’s town administrator came to an end earlier this month, has agreed to stay on in order to help with the transition.
The headline of this article was updated from a previous version that appeared due to an editing error.