There are unique times in local governance when it’s not about popularity, but familiarity.
It’s the same seats, the same voices, the same late nights at Town Hall.
Thursday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting served as a public farewell to decades of public service from First Selectman Jeff Manville, Selectman Justin Bette, and Selectman Anne Armeno.
Southbury’s new First Selectman, Tim O’Neil, will be sworn in on Monday, December 1.
Manville leaves the top elected position of the town with nearly 50 years of public service and volunteerism under his belt.
His five terms as First Selectman were headlined by the unexpected: a pair of national disasters and a global pandemic.
“It’s been a very interesting journey for 10 years, for good or for bad,” Manville said on Thursday night. “The whole experience has been incredible.”
The 67-year-old will pivot to his family farm, where he doesn’t need the Board of Finance’s approval to take on his next task of sustainable agriculture.
His roots run 11 generations deep in Southbury, grounded like an oak tree, he says.
But in his decade of occupying room 212 in Town Hall, he’s had to weather the (literal) storm like the flexible and adaptable willow tree.
May 2018 saw a tornado touch down near Bullet Hill Road. The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns brought daily life to a halt. And in August 2024, historic flooding caused damage to local roadways and bridges, as well as closing the public library for a year.
“My hope is that I leave it in better condition than when I came,” said Manville. “That’s always the goal, it’s constant improvement.”
A collection of former colleagues and residents were on hand to wish the trio farewell as they embarked on their next chapter of life.
State Rep. Jason Buchsbaum and State Senator Eric Berthel presented Manville and Bette with a citation from the Connecticut General Assembly thanking them for their tremendous impact on the community.
Bette opted not to run for reelection this time around, and leaves town government after serving 10 years on the Board of Selectmen and previous terms on the town’s Board of Finance, Economic Development Committee, and Planning Commission.
“I thank you for the opportunity to serve, to be able to give back to my hometown as my dad and grandfather did,” said Bette. “I’d also like to thank all of the talented and dedicated staff here in Town Hall, all the other departments as well that truly make this town go. We all appreciate you very much.”
“It’s the volunteerism that makes our town go…I’m proud to have been a part of that,” Bette continued.
Selectman Armeno received recognition from Rep. Buchsbaum, former Selectman Greg Kuehn, and residents at both Thursday’s and at the Nov. 6 Board of Selectmen meeting.
Armeno was appointed to the Board of Selectmen in December 2024 to fill the vacancy left by Buchsbaum, who resigned to serve as State Representative. She came up less than 60 votes short of claiming a seat on the board.
A resident for over three decades, she has been involved at the local level in various community organizations and was then approached in 2009 to lend her experience within Town Hall.
Selectman Holly Sullivan thanked her outgoing colleagues, gifting a gavel to Manville for “10 years of service to this board, but also a lifetime of service to this community.”
Selectman Jason Van Stone attended Thursday’s and the Nov. 6 Board of Selectmen meeting via phone. Van Stone and Sullivan will be the minority Republican representatives on the board going forward.
O’Neil will be joined on the board by his fellow Democrats in Cathy De Carli, Wendy Bernard and Kelly Keenan.
This month’s municipal election results mean that the Board of Selectmen will have a majority of women for the first time in Southbury’s history.
The swearing-in ceremony for the next Board of Selectmen will be held on Monday, December 1 at 7:00 p.m. at Town Hall.
The Southbury Record 