Ferrara Named as Republican Registrar of Voters in Westbrook

WESTBROOK – The Republican Town Committee has appointed Paula Ferrara as the new Republican Registrar of Voters on June 30, but the Democratic Town Committee has stated they cannot fill the position with the current salary. 

“About five or six (Democrats) were asked but they all said no,” Democratic Town Committee Vice Chair Tony Palermo and member of the Board of Selectmen said, adding the salary cut “is an insult.” 

Connecticut General Statues 9-192 states “if a vacancy exists in the office of registrar of voters in consequence of a refusal or failure to accept the office or a failure of the registrar to appoint a deputy registrar, the town committee of the same political party…shall fill such vacancy by the appointment of some suitable person, who shall belong to the same political party.”
Democratic Town Committee Chair Marilyn Ozols addressed a letter to First Selectman John Raffa about her opposition regarding the pay decrease. 

“Unlike all other town positions, the unilateral pay reduction was taken prior to the anticipated wage study which you are undertaking,” Ozols wrote. 

Ozols requested the Board of Selectmen add an item to the July 6 agenda for appropriation to restore funds back to the registrar of voters’ salary line at its previous level. 

“Such a mid-term reduction is certainly unjust, may be illegal, and sets a precedent for Westbrook that is certain to discourage anyone from seeking public office,” Ozols stated in the letter. 

Raffa said the item was placed on the July 6 agenda simply as a courtesy but said at press time there was no plan for discussion or a vote. 

“I can’t betray the taxpayers of Westbrook,” Raffa said, by going against a budget passed by voters that called for a fifty percent reduction in individual registrar salaries from $13,900 to $7,000.