WALLINGFORD, CT — Days after failing to elect a new chairman, the Wallingford Town Council quickly elected its new leader in a special meeting on Thursday night.
Democrats Sam Carmody and Jesse Reynolds broke the deadlock, and ended the drama, by voting for Republican Joe Marrone as the council’s chairman to replace new Mayor Vincent Cervoni.
Monday night’s swearing-in ceremony of Cervoni and other elected officials ended with the council failing to elect its new chairman. After several rounds of votes and debate, the council was deadlocked at 3-3-3 with Marrone and fellow Republican Councilor Tom Laffin, the incumbent vice chairman, vying with Democrat Vinnie Testa for the leadership role.
Find out what's happening in Wallingfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Laffin was again supported by Republicans Autumn Allinson and Christopher Regan at Thursday’s meeting, while Christina Tatta and Craig Fishbein voted for Marrone again to give him the required five majority votes. Testa again voted for himself.
Marrone thanked those that supported him through this “contentious process.”
Find out what's happening in Wallingfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“I know that none of this was easy for any of you,” Marrone said. “And I really appreciate your faith and confidence in my leadership. I would also like to sincerely thank those of you that opposed me in this process. Dedication and resolve are not the kind of things that are forged in agreement, but in conflict. Your critiques and feedback provide me with a lot to consider and pray over. Now is my opportunity to prove that I can handle this important responsibility, and as chair, I represent all eight of you in equal measure.
“None of us were elected to sit on the sidelines and you all bring great things to the table. Your success is my success, your failure is my failure. There’s a lot to be done and I sincerely look forward to working with all of you to move Wallingford forward.”
Marrone said that his message to residents is that “if you want to see things change quickly, you may be disappointed. If you want to see things change slowly, or not at all, you may also be disappointed.”
“I will be deliberate in my duties if nothing else,” he said. “Identify a problem, you create a hypothesis and based on your results, you alter your method. You take measured risks and you assess the results, and that’s how I plan to move forward.
“I pledge to and will question and debate our new mayor, as I will with the rest of this council in the best way to move forward. But I think it’s also important to point out that before he was Mayor Cervoni, he was Chairman Cervoni, who I also vigorously debated with and argued with as I saw my role in this process. And before that he was just my friend Vinny.”
Marrone noted their long friendship and said Cervoni went door-to-door with him when he first ran for office, where they would talk about “family, food, and all kinds of things.”
“So, when I say that Mayor Cervoni or especially Councilor Laffin are good men, that’s not just talk, I know them as people, and I know them as good people,” he said.
Marrone said Wallingford could not have selected “a more decent man” to replace former Mayor William Dickinson as Cervoni, “who absolutely loves this town, as I do.”
“The general election is over, the chairman debate is over,” Marrone said. “Now I ask you all to come together and do our absolute best for the residents of this town. And also to support our new mayor as he adjusts to his new role.”
Tatta was then unanimously approved as the council’s new vice chairperson. She was nominated by Fishbein and seconded by Marrone.
Marrone said that he previously suggested that Tatta, who was the top council vote-getter in the past three elections, should run for the chair position. She refused and said she wasn’t interested at the time, according to Marrone.
“I explicitly trust Christina Tatta to do a fantastic job as vice chair,” Marrone said.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
Click Here: cronulla-sutherland sharks rugby store