Burgess, 21, Wins His Seat By 24 Votes

Alex Olbrys was sitting in his History of the Middle Ages class at Southern Connecticut State University Tuesday when he received a text message that confirmed he had won a seat on Naugatuck’s Board of Mayor and Burgesses. 

“I was completely relieved,” he said. “I was so excited that I had to leave class for a minute. The professor was lecturing; I can’t even tell you what he was lecturing about now.”

Olbrys, 21, a senior at SCSU and a part-time manager at the Naugatuck Wal-Mart, becomes the youngest member of the nine-member board and one of the youngest in history to serve on Naugatuck’s main governing body. Olbrys is one of five Republican burgesses on the board, which also has four Democratic burgesses. Mayor Bob Mezzo is a Democrat.

On Tuesday, Town Clerk Michelle Dowling and the Registrars of Voters held a full-day recount to verify whether Olbrys had indeed won the ninth and final spot on the board. The registrars had said on Election night that Olbrys had won by 22 votes, which flagged a recount per state statute since that number was less than one-half of 1 percent of the overall number of voters (4,905) on Tuesday.

The recount showed that Olbrys  came out 24 votes ahead of fellow Republican Ed Fennell: Olbrys won 1,848 to 1,824.

Olbrys said he believes voters gave him a chance for a couple of different reasons. 

“I hear a lot of people saying we need something new in this town – new ideas, fresh ideas,” he said. “I think I bring some new and fresh ideas to the table.”

He believes his young age helped him because people have viewed him as a go-getter and someone who can bring a new perspective.

“We are going to have a brand new high school once it’s complete, and it’s going to be world class,” he said. “We want students who are going through the high school to know that Naugatuck is a good place to call a hometown. We want them to come back to Naugatuck, and we want people to proud of Naugatuck again.”

Fennell replaced former burgess Ron San Angelo on the board when San Angelo moved to Massachusetts for a new job. He then ran for a full term against a field packed with incumbents and longtime politicos. 

The Citizen’s News reports that Fennell told the board last week that he would be a call away if the board needed assistance in the future.

“I said to Alex many times as we campaigned together, ‘If it’s not me, Alex, I’d love for it to be you,’” the CN reported that Fennel said. “So however things work out, I’m OK with it.”