WEST HAVEN, Conn. — West Haven Mayor, Nancy Rossi, confirmed Wednesday night she will not be running for a fourth term.
"I am leaving this place much better than the way that I found it," Mayor Nancy Rossi said in an interview with FOX61 on Thursday.
The announcement was made in a virtual and private meeting with members of the Democratic Town Committee, friends, and supporters, according to Rossi.
"I've given this a lot of thought over the past couple of months. This wasn't like a snap decision," Rossi said.
Ultimately, Rossi said she's enjoyed her time at city hall, but she's always believed in term limits and feels it's her time to step away.
"We had a lot, a lot of challenges. There's no question about it. But I think we met each one to the best of our ability and tried to turn it around into a positive," Rossi said.
Recently, Rossi and her team have faced controversy. In October of 2021, former city employee and State Rep. Michael DiMassa was arrested and charged for stealing more than $1 million in COVID relief money from West Haven. It's been a pain point for Rossi.
"I did not steal anything, my staff did not steal anything. I hate when everybody you know, blames everyone for this. It's not everyone's fault, it's the four people who did the stealing. That's whose fault it is, those are the people that need to go to jail," Rossi said.
The city has also been under fire for its finances. Since 2017, they've been under the watchful eye of MARB (The Municipal Accountability Review Board). However, last year, the city was bumped up to Tier IV, the highest level of MARB monitoring. They approve the city's budget and any expense over $50,000.
"But we were on the brink of state takeover, and it took that for them to get cooperation from the administration," said Ed O'Brien, West Haven's Former Democratic Mayor.
O'Brien was beaten out by Rossi in 2017. He's on the path to running again and was waiting on this announcement. He joined others who asked Rossi to step down in a city council meeting back in April of 2022, where the council gave her a vote of "no confidence."
"The city needs a leader, someone who can move forward, who can work with the state, who can work with city departments and, someone who takes charge and leads the city," O'Brien said. "Somebody where the buck stops with that person. What it doesn't need is a mayor who says, 'It's not my job, I didn't know that was going on. Look, almost $2 million walked out the door.
O'Brien has filed paperwork for an exploratory committee, though he has not officially announced he will be running yet. He's been knocking on doors to see how residents are feeling.
"They're looking for a change and they want to get proactive. They need someone who can hit the ground running. That there's no learning curve, and can get development back on track can get finances back on track, and will work with the state to take their advice and you know, get them out of West Haven," O'Brien said.
At this time, however, there is only one Democratic candidate who has announced they are running for election. First-term councilman, Victor Borras, recently filed his papers. Borras was not available for comment at the time of this story.
As for what's next for Mayor Rossi, she said she is looking forward to retiring with her husband, who has been sick for quite some time now and is in recovery.
"I've always believed we wanted to have some time. Go places, do things that you didn't do while we both were working full time," Rossi said.
Rossi said she will continue to serve as mayor until the election. Afterward, she said she will likely be working with the many nonprofits she already partners with.
"I love this city, I'm not going any place. I enjoy it very much here. My family is here. So, I'm sticking around no matter what," Rossi said. "I'll be busy, no question about it."
Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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