Tetreau Q&A: Interim first selectman on the record

Michael Tetreau didn't graduate from Roger Ludlowe High School in 1970 thinking, "One day, I'm going to be first selectman of this town." Becoming an elected official in Fairfield was never really on his "to do" list, but each time an opportunity arose, whether it was to run for a seat on the Representative Town Meeting or the Board of Finance, the time seemed right, the 59-year-old said, to use his talents to help the community.

The latest opportunity dovetails with his goal in this November's municipal elections. Tetreau was sworn in June 9 as "interim" first selectman, filling the spot left vacant after Kenneth Flatto -- a fellow Democrat who held the job 12 of the last 14 years -- resigned in May to take a job as director of special revenue in Gov. Dannel Malloy's administration.

Though Tetreau was unanimously endorsed by the Democratic Town Committee to fill the seat, the Board of Selectmen's two remaining members, Democrat Sherri Steeneck, who immediately became acting first selectman, and Republican James Walsh, could not agree on an interim first selectman to hold the post until November. So under rarely used state statutes, the job of appointing a successor fell to 17 of the town's elected Democrats, who in a very brief meeting June 9 unanimously elected Tetreau.

He leaves the Board of Finance, to which he was first elected in 2005, in taking over the town's top job. Before being elected to the finance board, Tetreau served on the Representative Town Meeting, starting in 2003. Prior to that, he spent more than five years on the Town Plan and Zoning Commission as an alternate and full member.

Until his appointment to the interim position, Tetreau was a sales vice president with William Raveis Real Estate.

He recently sat down for an interview with the Fairfield Citizen in his office at Sullivan-Independence Hall.

Q: What was the first thing you did on your first day as interim first selectman?

A: "The first thing I did was get settled. I looked at everything on my desk and tried to make sure I knew what everything was, and checked my calendar to make sure there was nothing going on before the swearing-in. I had a series of meeting scheduled in the afternoon. Once I said goodbye to the parents, it was right into work."

Q: What have your days been like since taking office?

A: "It's basically getting up to speed on everything. It's sitting down with (chief of staff) Tom Bremer and (chief fiscal officer) Paul Hiller, sitting down with (personnel director) Mary Carroll Mirylees on some of the projects she's working on.

"We had an emergency management team meeting to make sure I know my role in case of an emergency. I just came back from a similar meeting with the superintendent. It was to be clear if there's an emergency what everyone's role is. I've met with several mayors and first selectmen from other towns. That's been good, and it established the communication lines.

Q: What surprised you the most about the town's day-to-day functioning?

A: "I don't know if there was a big surprise. I think the staff is pretty good at what they do. It's not like they need the first selectman to know what to do next. I think the first selectman's role is one that focuses on planning, what resources we need and how do we move things forward."

Q: Have you given up your real estate business?

A: "Yes. It's something I could go back to, but there's nothing easy about that. Real estate is a very difficult job, especially in this economy; all the more so."

Q: What did you study at Princeton?

A: "Civil engineering. Civil engineering is a great discipline. I constantly go back to what we learned about how to solve a problem, how to first define the problem and to not be afraid of numbers. For a lot of the civil engineering classes at Princeton there were maybe 10 or 12 of us in a class. We got to be great friends with our professors. There were just as many civil engineers grads who went on to law school or medical school. The Arthur Anderson & Co. Consultants came down to specifically to hire engineers from Princeton -- and that's where I worked initially -- because they liked the training we received."

Q: What is it like being the chief elected official of the town where you grew up?

A: "It's a great feeling. As I go around town, as I go to different places, be it the Irish Festival, be it to Southport for the Blessing of the Fleet, be it any other event, you see old friends, people you grew up with, high school classmates. I've seen some teachers I've had. It makes it a very comfortable feeling from that standpoint.

"It's not just about the town; these are your friends and neighbors. Many of the people I run into know my dad from teaching or as an administrator or as a football coach. So I think at some point the way it feels is it puts a larger burden on you to do a good job, because in a real sense these are the people you're working for and you don't want to let anyone down. But you especially don't want to let your friends and neighbors down."

Q: Did Ken Flatto offer any advice?

A: "He offered some advice and gave me his phone number to call. He offered his full support. I'm still getting my feet wet and getting to know my way around."

Q: What kind of an agenda do you have for the next several months or is it more a matter of maintaining the status quo?

A: "I think there a number of things that need to be moving forward. The train station project is one that comes to mind. We have the open contracts with the bargaining units. We've got a meeting with one of the (bond) rating agencies coming up.

"My primary goal is to keep everything moving forward. I had a meeting with department heads last week. Part of my message to them was I'm here to support them, and asked them to get back to me with any priorities they have.

"I'm not a fan of meetings. If it takes five minutes, that's not a bad thing. When you're in business, everybody helps out. If someone is tied up in a meeting, they're not helping. The town is a service business. We have to take care of the people and meet our service levels, even in an economy like this."

Q: What do you do in your free time? Do you have any free time?

A: "I think my next free day is November 9. There's not much free time; that I was aware of and that is kind of what I signed up for -- both doing the job and learning the job, whether it was meeting with the folks working on our website, or like I mentioned, the emergency procedure meeting. We had a conference phone call this afternoon about the mountain lion. And by the way, I applaud our police department for the way they've taken care of this. There wasn't anything suggested that we didn't already have done. I'm hoping there's no more sightings and Paul Hiller can get to work safely."

Q: Who are your heroes?

A: "Wow. As corny as it sounds, my dad, for sure. I've never met anybody that has a way of commanding people that he has. I am continually amazed when I meet people that played football for my dad. I can understand why they feel good about it.

"When I meet people who had him as a housemaster at Fairfield Woods -- he handed out the discipline -- I ask them, `How well did you know him?' and when they say, `Oh, I knew him well,' it means they were a troublemaker. He was in charge of discipline and yet 30 or 40 years later they tell me how great he was. My dad, especially being a football coach, certainly was not afraid to discipline. What I hear from people is that my dad was tough but fair, and I think even as kids we can appreciate that. When I was coaching Pop Warner and a friend I work with asked her nephew what I was like as a coach and this 11-year-old said, `tough but fair,' I took that as a compliment."