FAIRHAVEN — Fairhaven Town Administrator Angeline Lopes Ellison is a finalist in the search for a Connecticut community’s next town manager, The Standard-Times has learned.

According to a Feb. 27 update on the town website for Bloomfield, CT, Ellison is one of four finalists, along with Niceville, FL Deputy Town Manager Chad Morris; Director of the State of Connecticut’s Intelligence Fusion Center Alvin Schwapp; and Enfield, CT Town Manager Ellen Zoppo-Sassu.

Ellison, on Monday, said she was contacted by Bloomfield officials about the job opening sometime within the past two weeks and, after an initial interview, was added to the finalists pool.

“There was an inquiry, so it wasn’t like an active pursuit,” Ellison said of how she came to be considered in Bloomfield’s town manager search.

According to Ellison, she had interviewed for the position in Bloomfield about three years ago, before taking the town administrator job in Fairhaven in 2022.

“I must have left an impression,” she said.

‘Microaggressions,’ ‘micromanagement’ in Fairhaven were part of decision, Ellison says

Prior to learning of Ellison’s finalist status for the Bloomfield position, The Standard-Times had interviewed Ellison about a disagreement that occurred at the Select Board’s Monday, Feb. 26 meeting. While Ellison’s comments in that interview were in no way made in context with her town manager candidacy, Ellison, in a subsequent interview, confirmed that the type of “microaggressions and micromanagement” she’d referenced relative to the Feb. 26 meeting were, in fact, factors in her decision to accept the Bloomfield candidacy.

“It played significantly into it,” Ellison said on Monday.

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What happened at the Feb. 26 meeting?

At the Feb. 26 Fairhaven Select Board meeting, Selectman Robert Espindola said he had concerns with the idea of holding discussion around redrafting Ellison’s contracted goals in executive session, referencing an email he’d received from the AG’s office in response to an inquiry and had forwarded to Ellison and the board.

The executive session, as it appeared on the agenda, was to “conduct sessions in preparations for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel.”

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Upon being hired, Ellison explained, pre-existing goals were adopted as part of her contract “for easement and transition into this position,” but there’d been agreement that by Year 3 — the current year — new “mutually agreed upon” goals would replace those. Outside the meeting, Ellison further explained that aside from affecting her existing contract, expiring in April 2025, any discussion around new goals, given the timing, can potentially segue into talks around a subsequent contract.

Select Board chair scolds colleague; Board member responds

In reaction to Espindola, Select Board Chair Leon Correy III made remarks at the meeting connecting Espindola’s objections to a “divisive environment that has been created and has been fostered for at least the last year,” calling it “absolutely insane and irresponsible.”

“… you should be ashamed of yourself, quite frankly,” Correy said to Espindola.

Espindola later addressed Correy’s remarks, stating rather than feeling “ashamed,” he is “quite the opposite.”

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“I’m very proud of my record of, since I’ve been on this board, 12 years, being very concerned about every time we enter executive session,” Espindola said, noting a history of questioning their application.

In an outside interview, Correy confirmed his Feb. 26 comments related to his view that undue scrutiny has often been placed on Ellison, which, to his knowledge, was not faced by her predecessor, former Town Administrator Mark Rees — a white man. Correy said this, combined with other transgressions he’s experienced and been privy to, make it apparent to him that Ellison has been targeted in her role because she’s a Black woman, and that the Feb. 26 exchange served as an example of this.

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When asked of her thoughts on the Feb. 26 meeting, Ellison expressed the same sentiment.

“I can say from the meetings that I’ve watched from my … predecessor, those questions were never asked to verify in a micromanagement kind of way,” Ellison said. “Mr. Correy has dealt with similar microaggressions. When people of color call it out, it becomes a racial thing….”

“I can’t speak for Mr. Correy in terms of what his comments referred to,” Espindola wrote. “I have demonstrated that it does not matter who initiates conversation that would be a violation of the Open Meeting Law, I have responded the same way each time.”

Correy said since the meeting, he’s faced public backlash from those who say his comments were unwarranted, however he maintains it was the right thing to do.

“They say I’ve been disrespectful but I’m like, I’m just being direct,” he said. “I’ve really been the only one willing to stand up for her [Ellison.]”

Neither Espindola or Correy are running for reelection to the Select Board when their terms expire in April. Correy has been vocal about alleged racism directed towards himself and Ellison being reasons for his decision not to run.

Executive session went on

Ultimately, the executive session was held, with Espindola reporting that he did take part for a portion, but at one point exited.

Asked if he planned on filing a formal open meeting law complaint relative to his concerns, Espindola said, “I was not party to anything that would warrant a complaint and I am confident that our Board will not address goal setting within the current year … during any future Executive Session meeting so I do not plan to file a complaint at this time.”

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What’s next?

According to communications staff from the town of Bloomfield, CT, the next step in the town manager search process comes this week when finalists will be invited into town over March 6-7. However, officials have not yet set a date for completion of the hiring process.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Fairhaven’s Ellison a finalist in Connecticut town manager search