The Board of Selectmen held a Special Meeting early Friday morning, Aug. 8 to craft the process to find a new Chief Financial Officer for Wilton, but no one publicly acknowledged nor addressed the elephant in the room.
On Monday, Aug. 4, GOOD Morning Wilton reported shocking news that CFO Dawn Norton had been holding a second in-person job as town administrator/finance director for a municipality in Wyoming since early May 2025, reportedly without First Selectman Toni Boucher‘s knowledge, nor apparently that of any elected official.
Since GOOD Morning Wilton first published the news, the story has been circulated by news outlets both nationally and internationally. BOS members, however, gave no public acknowledgement of this unique situation on Friday, later citing legal advice from town counsel to maintain silence.
“This situation could be subject to litigation so we are advised by counsel to refrain from discussing it,” Selectman Ross Tartell said on Sunday, Aug. 10, in an email to GOOD Morning Wilton. “I understand that there will be a public statement from the town next week.”
While Norton claimed she was in full compliance with her employment requirements, she officially tendered her resignation on Wednesday, Aug. 6. A job posting for the CFO position was posted on the town’s website on Tuesday, Aug. 5, however, and will now be updated following discussions by the BOS.
Norton Flees Dodge
In her interview with GMW, Norton described her departure from Wilton as part of an effort to “get the heck out of Dodge.” Norton’s Finance Department over the past year has been flagged as being understaffed, with a variety of finance-related issues affecting operations, said to at least partially be the result of staffing issues.
Norton subsequently claimed work was being “dumped” on her and that she was not getting support in hiring new staff for her department, in particular saying this week that she received no support from either Boucher or outgoing Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker.
Prior to Norton’s departure, a new Process Review Committee was appointed by the BOS and Board of Finance to engage a consultant to examine in-house operations at Town Hall, beginning with the Finance Department, and to make recommendations on how things can operate better.
While there was a PRC meeting scheduled for last week, BOF Chair Matt Raimondi said it was postponed because of the emergent situation with Norton.
“The meeting was postponed so we could first understand what happened with the CFO position,” Raimondi said. “A CFO is a key partner in providing the information needed for a thorough process review. We’ll revisit the topic once we have greater clarity, starting with next Tuesday’s (Aug. 12) BOF meeting.”
BOF Seeking Answers
While the agenda for the Tuesday, Aug. 12, BOF meeting was not posted as of Sunday, Aug. 10, Raimondi said it would include discussion of the CFO situation.
“I have asked the first selectwoman to attend the Board of Finance meeting on Tuesday to provide information during the public session,” he said.
Despite the dramatic news of Norton’s double professional life, BOS members were mum at their Friday, Aug. 8, special meeting, though the content of discussions held in private executive session prior to the public portion of the meeting were undisclosed.
“Since there was (litigation) concerns, on advice of counsel I could not comment, but will issue a public statement next week,” was Boucher’s full response on Friday afternoon following questions from GOOD Morning Wilton. Boucher was asked directly about whether the matter should be discussed publicly, as well as inquiries about salary ranges being offered for both Norton’s replacement and for a new town administrator to replace Knickerbocker, whose contract expires next month.
Following email inquiries from GMW on Friday to the other BOS members, including whether the matter warranted public discussion, Selectwoman Kim Healy said, “I’ve been advised by legal to not comment.
Neither Selectman Josh Cole nor newly appointed Selectman Rich McCarty responded to inquiries for comment.
Interim Town Treasurer
Coming out of its executive session on Friday morning, the BOS unanimously approved Tony DeFelice to be the interim treasurer for the town. DeFelice, Wilton’s manager of financial reporting and planning, was noted to have taken on some additional responsibilities during the last transition following the departure of Anne Kelly-Lenz, Wilton’s previous CFO.
“Tony is competent to do that and we need someone to sign checks,” Boucher said, calling it essential that the role be immediately covered.
In rewriting the job description for the new CFO, the BOS said the job will no longer include responsibilities for Wilton Public Schools, which Norton’s role did apparently include, identifying her as simultaneously serving as CFO for the schools as well. Healy noted that $100,000 of Norton’s $216,000 salary came from the Board of Education budget.
Sarah Taffel, Wilton’s director of human resources, labor relations and administrative services, said that she lowered the range being offered for the position “because the position is not doing work to the extent that it had in the past, significantly so,” she said.
“For the record, we did absolutely confirm all of this with our superintendent of schools, who is supporting eliminating that role with them,” Boucher said. “They feel they are well served. They have two excellent employees,” whom Boucher indicated are doing the work of a school CFO.
Wilton Public Schools Superintendent Kevin Smith was asked to comment on the matter and explain details about Norton’s role and the most recent financial arrangement, but did not share any answers with GOOD Morning Wilton prior to Monday morning.
The CFO position was initially identified with an annual range of $175,000 to $200,000 by Taffel, but the BOS expanded the range from $160,000 to $200,000 following push back from Healy. She said she had done some research looking at several surrounding towns, which were either not paying as much if operating with all three positions — a first selectperson, CFO, and town administrator — or were only financing either a CFO or a town administrator alongside the first selectperson.
“We shouldn’t pay more than any other surrounding towns, especially if they don’t have a town administrator,” Healy said.
“Is it possible that our town administrator role could be decreased if we have a really strong CFO,” she said, also noting that the previous CFO, Kelly-Lenz, was making significantly less money before being asked to take on the additional work with the Board of Education.
Tartell joined Boucher, however, in favoring a higher salary for the CFO position.
“We are coming out of a really difficult time … We need to make the investments to heal from that,” Tartell said.
“This is a message to our citizens because there is so much discussion about whether we are following the rules of the Charter and are we following the right procedures and are we flying by the seat of our pants,” Tartell said.
“I want them to understand that we are thinking about this,” he said. “We’ve heard their concerns and we want to be very transparent and clear about what we’re doing and about why we’re doing it and the impact we will have.”
Tartell said it will also be hard to fill the position without offering a high salary.
“It’s not easy to hire these people,” he said. “It’s a tight market. They are few and far between.”
Boucher, Healy, and McCarty, who left the meeting early before the BOS concluded its executive session, will all be taking part in the search committee for a new CFO, along with two as-yet-unspecified BOF members, and former BOF Chair Jeff Rutishauser, who currently chairs the Wilton Capital Planning Committee.
Kelly-Lenz left Wilton in January 2022, becoming the CFO for New Canaan after having served as Wilton’s CFO, treasurer and later Wilton’s Board of Education business manager for six years. Ironically, her replacement Norton then came to Wilton from New Canaan, where she had served for 10 years, leaving as its director of finance and CFO in January 2022.