The Middlebury Board of Selectmen will meet tonight, Thursday, Jan. 29, at 5:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Conference Room to decide whether or not to cancel the special town meeting set for Monday, Feb. 2, for the purpose of electing a person to fill the Region 15 Board of Education position held by Francis Brennan, who resigned.
If they do so, the special election won’t take place until June. That is what town attorney Robert Smith said in a letter to First Selectman Edward B. St. John. Smith quoted State Statute 9-450 (4) and said it provides the earliest date for a special election is “the 127th day following the day upon which warning of such election is issued.” If the warning were issued today, the election could be held no earlier than June 6, 2015. The term for the position ends Nov. 30, 2015, so the person elected would serve for less than six months.
The change in plans is a result of a Jan. 26 letter to St. John from Middlebury Republican Town Committee Chairman Tom King. In the letter, King, speaking on behalf of both the Republican and Democratic Town Committees, requested that the selectmen cancel the town meeting and instead vote to schedule a special election to fill the Region 15 board vacancy. The letter also asked that the town committees nominate the candidates for the special election.
In response, St. John sought Smith’s legal opinion, and it was provided Jan. 28. Smith said the town committees’ request was appropriate. He then detailed which of the Connecticut General Statutes applies to the situation.
Middlebury Town Clerk Edith Salisbury said the town had a special election in the past for a state senator, but has never had one for a Board of Education position. She is still researching exactly how this will be done.
