Wilton Selectperson Tiffany Maiuri is now Chairperson of the board, taking over for David Leavitt following a vote on Tuesday, June 27, at the meeting. Submitted Photo

WILTON — The Wilton Selectboard got together outside its normal meeting schedule on Tuesday, June 27, to elect officers of the Select Board and handle other business. Selectperson Tiffany Maiuri has been elected to be Chairperson of the board with Selectperson Michael Wells elected as Vice-Chairperson, effective Saturday, July 1.

Both positions were elected undisputed. Current Vice-Chairperson Phil Hilton and Selectperson Keith Swett declined nomination for chair and vice-chair, respectively.

Selectperson Keith Swett was opposed to both nomination, and had issue with the schedule of events following the town meeting, which was held on the previous Tuesday, June 20. According to Swett, Select Board officers are supposed to be elected in the first regularly scheduled Select Board meeting in July following the town meeting.

“This is an extra meeting,” Swett stated.

Maiuri agreed with Swett and asked if this meeting would qualify as a special meeting.

Town Manager Perry Ellsworth stated that he considered this meeting a regular Select Board meeting, as their first meeting in July would fall on Tuesday, July 4. This would mean they would not reconvene until their next scheduled meeting, which is on Tuesday, July 18.

“I consider it a regular Select Board meeting because we haven’t met since June 6,” Ellsworth stated. “We have an awful lot of business.”

Swett responded by saying that the town meeting, in the past, would count as a meeting for the Select Board, as they have been known to stay after to handle business once the town meeting is complete. “This would be our third meeting of the month.”

After much deliberation, it was decided by the Select Board to elect their officers at this meeting.

In other business, the Select Board voted to allow the Wilton Town Office to be closed Friday, June 30, and Monday, July 3, to the public for the office staff to complete their year end closure work.

“I can tell you that this is a regular habit of most towns,” Ellsworth said to the board. “I don’t know that it has been here, but it’s something that needs to take place so that we can capture the year-end before I close out all of our books for automotive and in the finance office prior to the end of the year. ”

This means the Wilton Town Office will close its doors to the public starting Friday, June 30, and will not reopen to the public until Thursday, July 6.

Wells asked if the office could open on Wednesday, July 5, and operate outside their normal business hours to accommodate the public, but Ellsworth stated they would need to be closed to finalize any year-end closure work.

The Select Board also voted to put in place their meeting schedule following Saturday, July 1. Currently, the Select Board meet on the first and third Tuesday of the month. Swett stated that he liked the schedule as is and does not wish for it to change.

Maiuri agreed, but also brought to the board the idea of re-scheduling their first Select Board meeting from Tuesday, July 4, to Tuesday, July 11. She added that if they do not have enough business left over from this meeting, they would forego their second meeting on Tuesday, July 18.

Ellsworth stated it was possible to put all the agenda items into one meeting, but there may be some carryover with certain items that are on a deadline.

“I can tell you that we have way, way too [much],” Ellsworth stated. “I could probably stuff everything into [July 11] and not meet on [July 18], and we’d probably be in better shape than we would be if we tried to wait until [July 18].

“We’ve got a number of agreements that are going to require signatures that I’m not so sure that I agree with a contract, so we might be getting into a longer term,” he added.

The Select Board voted to schedule a meeting for both Tuesday, July 11, and Tuesday, July 18, with the possibility of cancelling the second meeting on July 18 if there are no items left over from the meeting on July 11.

The Select Board will return to the regular schedule of the first and third Tuesday of the month in August.