No Movement On Filling Of Late Fairfield First Selectman's Post

FAIRFIELD, CT — A new First Selectman in Fairfield likely will not be named until after Aug. 14 at the earliest, following a Tuesday meeting of the Board of Selectmen during which no decision was reached.

Before his untimely passing last month, former First Selectman Bill Gerber designated Christine Vitale as Acting First Selectwoman, a role she still holds. Democrats Gerber, as First Selectman, and Vitale, as Selectwoman, were elected to their posts in November 2023.

Gerber defeated then incumbent Republican First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick for the town's top office, and Kupchick then became a Selectwoman.

The three served in those posts until Gerber's passing, which now leaves only Vitale and Kupchick on the normally three-member board.

And therein lies the rub, the two are not on the same page about filling the vacancy to serve out the remainder of Gerber's term, which runs to November 2027.

Vitale has made it clear that she would like to continue in the role, but Kupchick, while stressing she has nothing against Vitale personally, believes the decision should not be in the hands of one or two people.

"I enjoy working with Christine, and this doesn’t have anything to do [with] her as a person," Kupchick wrote in an email to officials prior to Tuesday's meeting. "This is based on what I believe is a broken process. I genuinely feel this decision should not be made by one person."

In 2006, Fairfield's Town Charter was updated, and the terms of the members of the Board of Selectmen were extended from two years to four years. Kupchick believes that the language about filling vacancies should have been updated at that time, too, but it wasn't.

The board has 30 days to fill the First Selectman's post, which will expire on Aug. 14. At that time, the vacancy would be filled by the elective town officers of the same party of the selectman who held the now vacant seat, in this case, Democrats.

Not all Democrats, only a select group that would include Vitale, the Democratic Registrar of Voters, the Democratic elected Constables, the Democratic Town Plan & Zoning Commission Alternates and Democratic Zoning Board of Appeals Alternates, according to Town Attorney Phil Pires.

"That body would then have 60 days from when the vacancy was created to fill the vacancy," Pires said during Tuesday's meeting.