08/02/2024
It's the long-awaited return of the Rivereast Spotlight Story of the Week! This week, read about the resignation of prominent -- and at times controversial -- Colchester Democrat Mike Egan. And for more great news, be sure to check out this week's Rivereast, arriving today in your mailboxes and this afternoon online!
Prominent Colchester Democrat Resigns
By Michael Sinkewicz
Michael Egan, a prominent – and at times controversial – local Democrat who’s served on a variety of boards and committees over the last 25 years, resigned from the Board of Finance last week.
Egan, the vice-chairman of the Board of Finance (BOF), announced in a letter addressed to the town clerk that he would be stepping down following the board’s meeting on July 24. The decision, he wrote, “was not easy” and was “due to personal issues.”
Egan did not return calls for comment for this story.
Egan was one of the town’s longest-serving Democrats, ogging nine years on the Board of Education, two on the Sewer and Water Commission and a stint as chairman of the Jack Jackter Intermediate School Building Committee. He was elected to fill a two-year vacancy on the finance board in 2017, before winning a full six-year term in 2019; his departure comes a little over a year before the term was set to expire.
Often, Egan would arrive to board meetings equipped with charts and other materials he prepared to help illustrate his points, which he would heartily champion, sometimes leading to intense exchanges with his political adversaries.
“I know at times I have been passionate; others may have ifferent terms for that though, but I have tried to put the best interest of this town first and hope I have made a difference,” Egan wrote.
Following Egan’s resignation, the Democrats’ majority on the finance board is now a slim 3-2, although that configuration will be temporary. According to Colchester’s town charter, the finance board has 60 days to fill the vacancy and must appoint a member of the same political party as the departing official.
Egan was unanimously chosen as vice-chair of the BOF last December after Democrats flipped two seats and took control of the board after the latest municipal election. In June, Colchester concluded a tumultuous budget season that was further complicated by serious accounting issues in the town’s finance department. As one of the board’s most seasoned members, Egan helped navigate a series of complicated circumstances and offered institutional knowledge for the board’s newest members, including its chairman, Democrat Scott Chapman.
Over his years in office, Egan developed a reputation as being a hard-nosed Democrat, whose partnership, if obtained, became a ribbon for local politicians to pin to their resumes. For example, during a candidates’ forum last October, then-first selectman Andreas Bisbikos — a Republican who frequently clashed with Egan — pointed to their collaboration as proof that he could bridge a partisan gap.
“I can get Mike Egan to the table,” Bisbikos said during the forum.
Although Egan voluntarily stepped down, he was a controversial public figure and Republicans had called for his resignation in the past. Last year, following a contentious BOF meeting, Bisbikos and Republican finance board member, John Thomas — then vice-chair — both argued that Egan should resign.
After a heated exchange with a citizen, Egan left the meeting and departed Town Hall, later encountering Jason LaChapelle, a former Libertarian member of the Board of Selectmen. LaChapelle stated at the time that Egan had approached him and eyed him with a “menacing look.” Egan, however, said he had arrived at his own residency and dismissed the episode as a chance encounter.
“It was bizarre,” Egan said following that incident, adding that those who called for his resignation “can spin it however they want.”
In his resignation letter, Egan thanked the current and former members of the finance board that he worked with, emphasizing the difficultly of their joint task.
“We may have had differences, but we all worked for the benefit of this town that we love. I wish you all well. There are challenges ahead, but working together you can meet those challenges,” he stated. The Board of Finance, he wrote, “is not an easy board to serve on; balancing needs with affordability never is.”
Egan also expressed gratitude for the community, conveying that he raised three sons in town and will be “forever grateful” for what Colchester meant to them.
“This is a wonderful community and a great place to live and raise a family, and those like my fellow BOF members make all that possible,” Egan wrote.
During last week’s meeting, Egan — who was officially overseeing the night’s agenda because Chapman was absent — said it had been “an honor and a privilege to serve with all of you.”
“It’s a fantastic town,” he said. “I only hope I was able to give back to the level that we as a family received.”
In referencing his time serving on the building committee for the town’s intermediate school, Egan gestured to the current Democratic first selectman, Bernie Dennler.
“I think there’s a certain first selectman who was actually in Jack Jackter when I was the chairman of that building committee,” he said.
Later during the meeting, Dennler conveyed: “I would not be here today in this seat if it wasn’t for the experience I had in this town as a kid, as a student, and I owe that to people like you.”
Before he was first selectman, Dennler previously served alongside Egan on the BOF. It was during that time, he said, he saw “firsthand how much work [Egan] put in, not just at this table, but everything that had to happen outside of this room so that when we came in those meetings, we were prepared to do what was necessary for the town of Colchester.”
Democrat Mike Hayes, a member of the BOF who was elected on the same ticket as Egan, said he was “extremely proud” to have worked together.
“I can tell you his heart is 100 percent into Colchester,” he conveyed. “Everything he has done has been for this town.”
