Rep Lyddy also said increasing responsibilities he has taken on in his second term have caused conflicts that have prevented him from making DTC meetings.

“I just need more time to take care of the people’s business,” Rep Lyddy said.

Local DTC Chairman James Juliano said that as recently as January, his committee was unable to endorse a number of commission appointments because of a lack of a quorum, which held up those appointments for another month. And Mr Juliano said he appreciated Rep Lyddy’s professionalism in prioritizing the needs of the entire community and the state.

“Nobody has any ill-will about it,” Mr Juliano said. “Chris is still our guy.”

The DTC chairman said he could appreciate Rep Lyddy’s challenges, especially when factoring his added responsibilities at the statehouse and the hour-plus commutes back and forth from Newtown.

Mr Juliano also pointed out that Rep Lyddy’s situation is more status quo than a political anomaly.

“State officials, once they are elected at that level, are usually not active on their town committees,” Mr Juliano said. “But we sent him a note asking him to reconsider the resignation, because we still greatly value his input and we would like to still attend meetings when time permits.”