“Unk” Won’t Seek Reelection

Anthony ​“Unk” DaRos is ending an overall 12-year run as the town’s full-time chief executive and administrative officer. But don’t expect him to slow down.

“You are going to see the most active lame duck you have ever seen,” he declared.

In an exclusive interview, he publicly confirmed for the first time that he will retire from government life when his term ends this November.

He reflected on his years in office during a 50-minute interview Friday. DaRos, who is 70, plans to tell his Town Hall staff, department heads and other employees at their weekly Monday morning meeting that he will not seek a fourth two-year term in the upcoming November election.

As first selectman he oversees the day-to-day operation of town government and all town departments. Overall he has served 12 years as first selectman, beginning with his first six year stint in 1997 when he ran for the town’s top job on the Democratic ticket. 

“I want them to hear about it from me, all together,” he said. ​“They have been supporting me and me them all this time.” A number of employees tried to persuade him to seek another term, he said. But this time DaRos seemed ready to disengage, as he put it.

“I will be 71 when I leave this office. How many years do I have left? Some years perhaps. I might as well do some stuff I feel like doing. Probably it is stuff a young man wouldn’t dare tackle but this old man is going to do it.”

And what is his plan? Well, It turns out that DaRos, who by trade is a stone maker, owns the last remaining (and empty) railroad station in town, one built in 1852. It was used by commuters in Stony Creek to purchase tickets for the old New Haven-New London single track line, a line that later became the old shoreline railroad. He wants to restore the building and create a little shop ​“where I can do wood carving or stone work or whatever.”

“That is my dream, to restore it and make it mine. I will go up to the last minute. No matter what it is, I keep going.”

Election 2013: Democrat & Republican Town Candidates

Second Selectman Andy Campbell, 47, an attorney, former member of the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) and former chair of the Democratic Town Committee (DTC,) told the Eagle he has declared his intention to seek the first selectman’s position to the DTC’s nominating committee if DaRos did not run. No second selectman’s name has yet emerged from the nominating committee, chaired by Stan Konesky, Jr. 

It is not know if anyone else has applied for the first selectman’s post, which pays about $99,000 a year. The DTC has asked those interested in running for the top spot as well as the many other elected town positions to submit applications by this Friday. 

Republican Third Selectman Jamie Cosgrove, 40, the grandson of Dan Cosgrove, once Branford’s legendary Democratic boss, has said he will seek the first selectman’s position. Cosgrove, a former RTM member, manages his grandfather’s construction business in the garage where Dan Cosgrove liked to meet with town officials back in his day. Ray Ingraham, 50, a member of the RTM and the chair of the Republican Town Committee, is seeking the second selectman’s slot. Neither the RTC nor the DTC has held a formal nominating convention, typically scheduled for June or July. 

A third candidate, Jaycey Wyatt, 42, has previously announced she would run for the first selectman’s office as an independent candidate. She is in the process of starting a new party, the first new one since Dan Cosgrove formed the Taxpayers Party, once a strong political force in town. Wyatt, a businesswoman and self-proclaimed ​“super model,” has not held public office before but did run unsuccessfully on the Republican line in 2011 for both tax collector and the RTM member. There are many photos of her on the Internet in scantily-clad poses. Wyatt has lived in Branford most of her life, and attended the local school district. During the election two years ago, Wyatt spoke candidly with the media about her personal life, stating she began life as John Christian Pascarella, and later became Jacey Wyatt.

Hers is a familiar face at town meetings these days. Click here to read our previous story about her decision to run. (And click here to read a story in the Register that first reported on the word around town that DaRos was planning not to run again.)

All 30 RTM members also face election this November. 

DaRos’s First Six Years

DaRos’s first six years in office began in 1997 and ended in 2003. He ran and won again in 2007, 2009 and 2011, overall serving a dozen years. Even his critics are impressed with his broad knowledge of the town infrastructure, knowledge that was crucial in handling the aftermath of darkness following two major hurricanes. DaRos testified before the legislature after Hurricane Irene on CL&P failings and what steps the electric company needed to take to prepare for future hurricanes.   

Asked what he is proudest of, he cites the restoration of the center of town, particularly after a major fire that devastated the town center landscape. In his first six years of office, he set out to build, restore or renovate the town’s primary structures, including Town Hall, a section of the high school, the treatment plant, the town’s main library and a volunteer services center on 30 Harrison Ave., which houses the community dining room and the food and clothing pantries.

A decade ago he agreed to get the town behind the creation of an animal shelter, one now recognized as one of the best in the Northeast. It is named in honor of Dan Cosgrove, who is a great animal lover. He also had a hand in the final completion of the town’s police station. By the time he left office the first time around he had changed Branford’s architectural landscape. 

The fire occurred only two months after he first took office in 1997, a disastrous fire that consumed the heart of the town, right across from the Town Hall green. On January 28th, 1998, the fire destroyed three buildings, 12 businesses and a number of apartments. No one was killed.

“And the next day the finance director quits,” DaRos said. “I asked him to set up funds so we could take action after the fire. I went to the owners of the buildings and the insurance companies and I asked them to turn the buildings over to me for administrative purposes. And that is how we got it cleaned up. I had the lights on the next day. We had the sewers hooked up; the gas mains were fixed, the water mains were fixed. The merchants up and down the line all cooperated. They turned their lights on at night to make it look like we were alive. Volunteers came together and put up a fence.  I knew that the strength of the town of Branford was its people. They helped us. They were what saw us through this.”

Town Hall & Other Projects

DaRos, a former fire commissioner, said he got into politics for only two reasons. One was the proposed renovation of Town Hall by then Republican First Selectman Dominic Buonocore. He said his idea was to build ramps at town hall.

“I thought it was too majestic a building to do that. The other building that concerned me was finishing a section at the high school. So somebody said to me if you think you can do better, why don’t you run? OK, I said. And that is how it happened. It was overnight.” 

DaRos got funds from the Board of Finance (BOF) to complete both projects, including the entire restoration of Town Hall (where the ramps are on now on the side of the building.) Only a few employees, including DaRos, stayed at Town Hall during the renovation. 

When it came to the town’s waste treatment plant, DaRos said, Branford was one of the only towns in the state to go into a project labor agreement, one that required negotiations with 13 separate unions. ​“It was unheard of for a community to do that. It is done at state and federal levels but we did it at the town level. There were two strikes during that project, but that project never slowed down because we had that project labor agreement that they would not strike that job.” And they didn’t, he said.

He also remembered the day when a group of volunteers, concerned that the town’s soup kitchen was bursting at the seams at the Baptist Church and the clothing and food banks were facing troubles at their locations, came to Town Hall. 

“So they all came in and I said, ​‘Let’s go take a walk.’ We walked across the Green, about 10 or 12 people, and we went to 30 Harrison, where the old police station had been.

“I said, ​‘This building could solve a lot of problems.’ You put the dining room, the food bank, the clothing bank in here. So they formed a corporation and that building actually won a national award. We applied for a small cities grant. That was the only outside money that came in, about $250,000. But the rest of it was raised by the people to the tune of $800,000. The Rotary Club was involved, I remember, and the BOF was very cooperative in getting this done. It ended up that very little taxpayer money went into that project. It was a project of volunteers helping volunteers.”

By 2000, the Community Dining Room and the other town services had a new home. The expansion enables the dining room to provide evening family dinners and home deliveries to people on the shoreline.

New Animal Shelter

Then came the animals, he said. ​“We used to lease seven kennels over in Guilford. It became a concern. Our animal control officer was going back and forth, back and forth. The compassion club said we needed a shelter. And then I received this note.

“I believe it was the third or fourth grade class. The note said: ​‘We would like to meet you at 5:30 p.m. at the community center.’

“‘This ought to be interesting,’ I thought. And at that time, there was a whole class. ​‘We want an animal shelter for the animals,’ they said. They had pictures. They had a presentation; it was a beautiful presentation. Then they went on, ​‘We want the shelter for all animals, not just dogs and cats. And we want this and we want that.’ And before they left they said, by the way, ​‘Here is a $100 check.’ They had collected a hundred dollars.

“And I said when I saw that, ​‘OK kids, you got your animal shelter.’ That is how it started. Then I turned it over to Eunice LaSala and Bill O’Brien, [two veteran fund raisers for public projects] and people like that. They started a fundraiser, and in a very short period of time they raised $100,000, but when this was all done they had to raise $716,000 to build this building. And they did.”

“Now it is the premiere animal shelter in the Northeast,” he said praising the abilities of Director Laura Burban and her staff.

He said for the six years he held office, the first time ​“both parties actually wanted to see the town do well. And yes we had our debates, but they were real debates. The opposition side would come up with alternatives. There was compromise. We did some real good projects in those first six years.” The summer before he left office in 2003 he took the first steps to seize by eminent domain the 77-acre Tabor property, a decision that would later transform his final years in office.

What Should the Town Do Next?

DaRos said the biggest issue Branford faces is not the budget or making it through the year without laying off teachers, policemen or firemen, issues that many towns face.

​“For us, the town of Branford’s biggest problem is the rising sea level. You better start addressing it. This is your problem. It is a problem throughout the eastern seaboard. But I am not interested in the eastern seaboard. I am interested in the town of Branford. We have 29 roads that get inundated at these high tides. We better be looking at this. Period. And we better get some relief from the state’s regulatory commissions.”

DaRos has asked the Board of Selectmen, which consists of himself, Campbell and Cosgrove to give him input on forming a rising seas committee, but he has stopped short of forming a committee himself as he has in the past.

Why?

“Because I have watched other committees who were appointed recently. Then they get criticized. Those volunteers get nothing but criticism. The building committee seeking a new location for the public works building ​“worked for two years on it. And now they are the target of name calling? They have nothing to gain or lose where it ended up. But to get ridiculed like those people did, well, why would anybody volunteer for anything in this town? So DaRos said he is hoping for bipartisan involvement and support for the rising seas committee.

As he prepares to leave office, he said the town’s infrastructure is in pretty good shape, and its finances, including a Triple A bond rating, show strong financial health.

“I think besides geographically where we are — Branford has an extraordinary coastline — what Branford has is very energetic people. They really want to see the town does well. All they need is a chance. I believe that is the number 1 job, right here. Give them a chance. They want to do it. They are the volunteers, they are the service organizations. I think the town should support them and encourage them.”

###