Originally intending to speak with a representative of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities to get input on a list of questions they want to ask town administrators, Newtown’s Town Administrator Workgroup instead had an interview that did double duty when CCM recommended Matt Knickerbocker as its representative.

Knickerbocker is the Town of Wilton’s current town administrator and the catalyst for the local workgroup’s existence.

First Selectman Dan Rosenthal credited the hiring of Knickerbocker by Wilton for giving him the idea of potentially creating a town administrator position. Previously, Rosenthal thought he would have to charge a Charter Revision Commission with looking at a town manager position.

While very similar, a town administrator is a position that is in addition to and complements a first selectman, while a town manager would largely replace a first selectman’s position — or at least a significant amount of a first selectman’s duties — and would locally require a change to the Town Charter.

At its March 6 meeting, the workgroup spoke with Knickerbocker for roughly 30 minutes, during which time he provided the workgroup a history of government in Connecticut towns, noting it’s been slower to change with the times than the rest of the country, as well as answering questions about his new role in Wilton.

Knickerbocker said that the town meeting form of government dates back to pre-colonial times and was a product of church government.

Going into the 19th Century, over 95 percent of town governments moved away from the direct democracy of town meetings and into representative governments such as selectmen and town councils. He said there are still some areas where town meetings exist, such as in New Jersey and upstate New York, but they are largely gone.

Knickerbocker said the council/town manager style of government didn’t start to emerge until the early 20th Century, as previous to that a lot of authority was centered with the states and counties, with towns having less of that authority.

That changed as many states began to move from Dillon’s Rule (the principal that local government only exercises powers expressly granted by the state, powers necessarily and fairly implied from the grant of power, and powers crucial to the existence of local government), to Home Rule, which grants local governments greater autonomy and limits the power of states to interfere in local affairs.

“The growing power of local governments allowed them to do more things, such as put out municipal bonds,” said Knickerbocker. “As they grew, they needed more professional management, like Boards of Education with a superintendent.”

Connecticut Lags Behind

While council/manager is the chosen form of government of 55 percent of US towns, only 31 Connecticut municipalities use that form of government.

“Connecticut is behind on that,” said Knickerbocker. “It’s asking voters to throw out 300 years of history. So some towns have taken the intermediate step of hiring a town administrator.”

Knickerbocker said a town manager or town administrator allows the town to have the three top positions common to corporations, with a chief executive officer (or in the town’s case, a chief elected officer), a chief operations officer (the town manager or town administrator), and a chief financial officer (the finance director).

“More and more towns are switching to council/manager,” said Knickerbocker.

Knickerbocker noted that one town — Monroe — switched to a council/manager model of government and then switched back within the last 20 years. Workgroup members took interest in that and added it to the list of towns they were going to look at.

“That could inform us on what works and what doesn’t work, and why,” said workgroup member Pat Llodra.

Knickerbocker said as a town administrator in Wilton, he has supervisory authority over town employees and department heads, and can do hiring and firing. His role is daily management of the town, and he said a critical thing for the position is a “thoroughly informed line of authority.”

“I am supervised by the first selectman, and will receive performance reviews from him,” said Knickerbocker. “I suspect the Board of Selectmen will also have a role in that, but it’s a new role.”

Knickerbocker said he has been assigned a list of goals and objectives, some of which are broadly defined, allowing him to take the initiative in finding ways to meet those goals. He said his job has paid for itself through his work in bringing online permitting to the town, as well as large savings he has managed in fuel and energy contracts.

“There has been a return on investment,” Knickerbocker said.

Answering a question of whether residents of Wilton have accepted his role, Knickerbocker said the town has been a “welcoming and friendly environment,” and town employees have been happy to “have an ally.” He said the town’s first selectman has been “pulled in a million directions” with a lot of demands on her time.

“My role is as a facilitator,” said Knickerbocker. “I pick up the load and help the first selectman move the ball down the field. They see that as my role and it’s appreciated.”

When asked about challenges, Knickerbocker said that none have cropped up so far, but he’s new to the role, having started in September 2022. He said he believes so far that the position is “structured brilliantly” and there have been “no problems at all.”

Workgroup Chairman and local Selectman Maureen Crick Owen said the workgroup’s next steps will be to continue having interviews with other town officials, both from town and from out of town, and suggested each meeting have one such interview.

The group has scheduled its next meeting at 1:30 pm March 13, and its members cancelled a regular scheduled meeting for March 20.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.