MANSFIELD — Affordable housing plans and the town manager’s resignation led to heated public comments and bickering among the town council at their meeting Monday.
The council’s vote on whether to accept former town manager Ryan Aylesworth’s resignation brought multiple residents voicing harsh concerns during public comment. Aylesworth’s resignation would later be accepted by the council in a 5-1 vote with 2 members absent.
Complaints about the conduct of Aylesworth and his eventual resignation were not new to the council.
Aylesworth served on the town council for nearly six years until he was placed on a paid administrative leave on April 13 following an April 7 complaint about Aylesworth violating town policy, according to statement from Mayor Antonia Moran. He was investigated during this leave by Mansfield’s labor and employment law firm Kainen, Escalera and McHale.
The residents who raised the issue of Aylesworth’s investigation on Monday were not new to the council either.
The three residents who spoke about Aylesworth Monday, chairman of the Mansfield Republican Town Committee Aaron Bowman, Joanne Reese and former council member Brian Coleman, have confronted the council in multiple public comments, according to meeting minutes. Aug. 10 minutes said Coleman presented a petition during public comment that had over 200 signatures declaring no confidence in the council.
“He should’ve been kicked out a long time ago,” Reese said about Aylesworth’s resignation in an interview after public comment. “The town shouldn’t have to pay high paid lawyers for the abuse of their residents.”
Bowman’s public comment mentioned how the $356,035 estimated impact of Aylesworth’s resignation included in the agenda did not account for any legal work resulting from the complaint. Public records show $38,252.50 in related legal work not accounted in the estimate, according to the Willimantic Chronicle.
The initial legal investigation into the complaint was reviewed by the council on May 21 and found that Aylesworth had not violated any laws or town policies, according to a July 14 notice. The town announced on Sept. 8 that Aylesworth would resign for other opportunities instead of returning after the investigation cleared his complaint.
Coleman previously tried to terminate Aylesworth in 2024 based on a text he accidentally sent to Coleman calling him a creep and threatening injury, according to Inside Investigator. After Aylesworth issued an apology at a following meeting, Coleman couldn’t find a second for his motion to terminate the town manager as a council member.
The Ayleworth issue extended beyond a group of concerned residents and into the current council when it came time to vote on the approval of Aylesworth’s resignation. Republican council member Gail Zaicek would be the only vote against the approval after the interim town manager informed her of the resignation right before it went public Sept. 8.
“I talked to some townspeople and they knew before then,” Zaicek said, adding that the last update she received before he resigned was during an Aug. 24 executive session. “I’m still feeling like this is a situation where the council could’ve been more so involved.”
Mayor Moran responded to Zaicek’s complaint and said she was legally limited in what she could share with the council.
“I can assure you that if we didn’t say anything, we were advised not to say anything,” Moran said about her conversations with Mansfield’s town attorney and town labor attorney. “Much of what we have done has been for the purpose of anticipating lawsuits and trying to make sure that whatever became public, we could defend.”
The appointment of Stephen Daly as an interim town manager to temporarily replace Aylesworth did not receive as much scrutiny by the council and passed unanimously.
The other agenda item to hear significant pushback from public comment was an affordable housing proposal.
The directors of the Planning, Housing & Zoning Commission and Economic Development Commission, Jennifer Kaufman and Steven Ferrigno, began the meeting with plans to add housing to Depot Road. The plan would cost $900,000 for 5 units.
The nonprofit affordable housing developer Housing Habitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut would use a loan from Mansfield’s $4,394,821 Affordable Housing Trust Fund if the proposal is past, according to the meeting agenda. The agenda said revenue from the project would go back into the fund as the developer pays off the 30 year loan.
One Coventry resident representing the Centers for Housing Opportunity Eastern Connecticut spoke in favor of the project and seven residents brought up potential issues during the public hearing.
While not every resident who spoke opposed of the project or affordable housing, most were concerned about the impact to nearby historical sites like the Mansfield Christian Fellowship.
“The nonprofit affordable housing developer Housing Habitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut would use a loan from Mansfield’s $4,394,821 Affordable Housing Trust Fund if the proposal is past, according to the meeting agenda.” I think you mean “passed.”