At Monday night’s Nov. 17 Board of Selectmen meeting, Michael Kaelin took his seat as the newest member of the town’s governing board. Kaelin was the Wilton Republican Town Committee‘s choice to replace outgoing BoS member Hal Clark, who resigned when he moved from Wilton to Ridgefield.
Per the town charter, the WRTC nominated Kaelin, a republican, to fill the seat vacated by the republican Clark. That required the four remaining selectmen to vote whether or not to seat him on their board. Kaelin was unanimously welcomed by the other four members of the BoS–first selectman Bill Brennan, Dick Dubow, Ted Hoffstatter and Jim Saxe. He will complete the remainder of Clark’s term, which is up in Nov. 2015.
“We all know Mike, we’ve dealt with him in the past. He’s highly qualified. He’s an attorney, his legal background–God knows we can use some legal experience on our board; we seem to be dealing with legal problems all the time now,” first selectman Brennan said, somewhat humorously. “I’d be delighted to have Mike serving with us.”
After the motion was approved, Kaelin sat with the other selectmen, although he was unable to vote on any matters that followed because he was not yet officially sworn in.
Kaelin is an attorney with Cummings and Lockwood, LLC, a law firm based in Stamford. According to his bio on the firm’s website, Kaelin, “has extensive experience litigating commercial, employment, employee benefits, probate, trusts and estates, conservatorship, guardianship and investment matters, including wrongful discharge and discrimination claims, will contests, fiduciary litigation and securities arbitration; and has represented individuals, fiduciaries, closely held businesses and major corporations.”
A graduate of both Duke University (cum laude 1981) and Duke University School of Law (1984), he recently ended his term on the board of trustees of the Wilton Library Association.
In addition to the seat being filled by Kaelin, there are two other seats up for grabs in Nov. 2015–first selectman Bill Brennan (R) has already said he will not be running for another term; and Ted Hoffstatter‘s (D) term is also up. The other two selectmen–Richard Dubow (D) and Jim Saxe (R) have terms that currently run through Nov. 2017.
Brennan recognized Clark, who was seated in the audience.
“Hal served for nine years, with distinction. A number of different boards, commissions and assignments. He did a fabulous job. We’re sorry to lose him as a citizen of Wilton, we’re sorry to lose him on the board, and I’d like to offer a round of applause.”
Editor’s Note, 11:56 a.m.: The reference to Wilton Library Association has been corrected. An earlier version referred to the “Wilton Public Library,” which is incorrect.