Strong concerns and unanswered questions have emerged over the past week about the transparency of the process of filling a new vacancy on the Board of Selectmen.
“I’m very concerned about the process thus far on filling the BOS vacancy and will be raising my concerns in detail during our meeting tomorrow night,” Second Selectman Josh Cole said in an email to GOOD Morning Wilton on Monday, July 21.
With former Selectman Bas Nabulsi moving out of state this month before completing his term, which expires in November, the five-person board needs another resident to take on the voluntary job for the next few months.
It’s unclear how many people have put their name in for consideration, but GOOD Morning Wilton has learned that First Selectman Toni Boucher has interviewed at least two candidates for the role on her own. According to multiple sources familiar with the matter but unauthorized to comment publicly, there have been at least two more people whom Boucher spoke with individually about filling the seat.
Boucher has put only one, however — Rich McCarty, an unaffiliated voter endorsed for the open spot by the Democratic Town Committee — on the BOS agenda for Tuesday, July 22, for a public interview with the other selectmen and possible appointment.
No other candidates have been included on the official agenda to meet with the other selectmen in open public meeting.
The DTC has also nominated McCarty to run for the BOS in this year’s municipal elections.
According to the Town Charter, the Board of Selectmen are empowered to fill a vacant seat. Beyond that, the Charter does not spell out a process for how that happens; it only requires that the BOS as a whole approve an appointment.
Up until 10 years ago, vacancies were typically filled in cooperation with the political town committees. If the vacant seat had been held by an elected or appointed member of one political party, that party’s committee would submit a candidate for consideration.
That changed during former First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice‘s administration.
“How appointments were made was a topic of discussion during the 2015 municipal elections, with many residents complaining the process was exclusionary,” Vanderslice said.
Subsequently, two appointments for open BOS spots were made by the selectmen, in 2015 and 2018, with members publicly interviewing and considering candidates from both parties as well as individuals who expressed interest directly to the BOS.
“For each of these appointments, it was the remaining four members who decided the process,” Vanderslice said.
In 2018, Cole, a Republican, was himself appointed to the BOS to fill an empty seat after what Vanderslice described as a League of Women Voters-style candidate question-and-answer forum publicly conducted by the BOS during a special meeting.
“I was originally appointed to the BOS in 2018 to fill a vacancy,” Cole said. “I was interviewed in a public meeting by the entire BOS along with the other candidate who was nominated by the DTC.”
The other candidate, Ceci Maher, currently serves as Wilton’s state senator.
“The board discussed the candidates in executive session and then returned to the public meeting to vote,” Cole said.
Asked about how the process is currently being conducted, and which candidates she or anyone else has vetted, Boucher only responded by sending sections of the Wilton Town Charter without any additional comment or specifics. The sections, C-15 and C-19, includes general details on the responsibilities of the BOS and the first selectman, respectively, but does not give any details on the appointment process except to say that the BOS is “empowered” to fill vacancies on some elected and appointed boards.
While Boucher gave no response about whether or not she interviewed any candidates for the appointment, John “Jack” Suchy confirmed he did have an interview with her after submitting his name in for consideration.
“I was interviewed by First Selectman Toni Boucher on July 5, 2025, at a local diner in town,” said Suchy, a Democrat who has served as a BOS-appointed member of both the Wilton Police Building-Campus Building Committee, and the Wilton Security Task Force.
“I submitted my name as a candidate to replace Bas,” he said, writing a letter and sending his resume to each of the five BOS members on June 22.
After 27 years with the Norwalk Police Department, Suchy served as director of the state Consumer Protection Agency’s Liquor Division for almost 20 years, and currently runs a consulting group relating to the state liquor industry.
“I personally submitted my name, and not through the Wilton Democratic Party Town Committee,” he said.
Wilton DTC Chair Tom Dubin, meanwhile, submitted McCarty’s name on behalf of the DTC.
“The DTC endorsed Rich to fill the vacancy,” Dubin confirmed.
“I am not aware of specific processes to fill Bas’s vacancy, except that the state’s minority representation rules prevent any one party from having more than three representatives on a five-member Board of Selectmen,” Dubin said, noting that Boucher, Cole and Selectwoman Kim Healy are all Republicans.
In addition to McCarty, last week the DTC also officially nominated David Tatkow to run for the BOS on the Democratic ticket in November’s municipal elections.
Tatkow, an investment consultant who ran for a seat on the Board of Finance in 2023, said that neither he nor anyone else submitted his name to fill the current vacant seat on the BOS.
“The DTC actually endorsed Rich McCarty for the BOS vacancy, and I think he’ll be great for the seat,” Tatkow said on Monday. “I’ll leave it up to the Selectmen to comment on any aspect of their process / decision as it relates to the vacancy as well.”
Selectman Ross Tartell, the only Democrat currently serving on the board, did not respond to questions from GOOD Morning Wilton.
Healy, meanwhile, said she did not want to comment on the matter.
The Wilton Republican Town Committee Chair Peter Wrampe told GOOD Morning Wilton that the RTC did not provide any names for consideration and that he has personally not heard of any other people being interviewed by Boucher.
Asked for comment on why he submitted his name, or the process involved, McCarty said, “I do not want to be presumptuous about what may or may not happen on Tuesday evening.”