Politics & Government

Tetreau Likely to Take Over Thursday Night

Election by 18 Dems Scheduled for 7 P.M. Thursday in McKinley School

Board of Finance member Michael Tetreau is due to become First Selectman Michael Tetreau Thursday night.

Town Attorney Richard Saxl reported Friday that 18 elected Democrats in Fairfield are scheduled Thursday to choose who the town's interim first selectman should be now that First Selectman Sherri Steeneck and Selectman James Walsh could not reach an agreement within 30 days of former First Selectman Ken Flatto's May 3 resignation. There's little doubt that the 18 Democrats will vote unanimously for Tetreau.

Thursday's election, to be noticed in a legal ad on Wednesday in a local newspaper, is set for 7 p.m. in McKinley School, Saxl and Town Clerk Betsy Browne said.

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Steeneck said Friday that serving as first selectman had been interesting, and she cited work on the Fairfield Metro Center, residents' objections to their new property assessments, reviewing labor contracts and Roger Sherman School's upcoming $2.2 million renovation as some of the highlights and challenges of her month-long tenure.

Steeneck said she received an e-mail about a federal grant for bicycle and pedestrian access to the upcoming third train station at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday and was able, with the help of the Greater Bridgeport Regional Planning Agency, to file an application for the grant by the deadline of noon June 1.

Find out what's happening in Fairfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I actually read it when it was sent," Steeneck said of the e-mail. "We may not get [the grant] but nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Steeneck, who formerly worked on the train station project as director of the town's Office of Community & Economic Development in the mid-1990s, said it was nice to get back in touch with people involved in the project, which is a massive undertaking on 35.5 acres across from BJ's Wholesale Club on lower Black Rock Turnpike.

Steeneck said the most disappointing part of her tenure as first selectman was that no one had adopted Odi or Missy, the two dogs featured at Board of Selectmen meetings who live in the town's Animal Control Shelter and are in need of adoption.

Steeneck said Missy, who refused Animal Control Officer Bill McDonagh's attempts to pick her up for a photo before Wednesday's selectmen's meeting, reminded her of a dog she had as a child. She said that dog, a beagle terrier mix, had always done the opposite of what her mother had asked and that she could vividly remember her mother chasing the dog down the street.

Steeneck said she has two dogs - one older and one more active - and that she might bring Odi or Missy home as a companion for her younger dog.

Steeneck said the most challenging part of the job was remembering "Robert's Rules of Order" that govern how Board of Selectmen meetings are run. "This last one, I thought I had it all down," she said of Wednesday's selectmen's meeting, adding that she was still stymied by the parliamentary procedure.

Saxl said Tetreau likely would be sworn into office Thursday night, though the ceremonial swearing in likely would be during the day on June 10.

Steeneck, asked if she would have her photo taken for the first selectman's wall in Sullivan-Independence Hall, which includes portraits and photos of previous first selectmen beginning with John J. Sullivan, who served from 1959 to 1983, said, "If I do, it will be humorous and just for fun."


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