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Steeneck Bids Farewell to Fairfield Selectmen

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Sherri Steeneck joked that she installed an app on her iPhone to count down to when she would step down from Fairfield’s Board of Selectmen. But the Democratic former acting first selectman couldn’t help but choke up this week when her fellow board members said their goodbyes at her last meeting.

Still, Steeneck said she was relieved to come to the end of her three-year tenure on Fairfield’s executive body. “It’s not because I don’t like doing this, or think that I can’t add some value,” Steeneck said. “It’s just that I don’t have the time.”

Steeneck never asked to join the board and, in fact, was never elected to it. She became selectman in 2008, after her friend Denise Dougiello had to step down from the board for health reasons. Dougiello asked Steeneck to take her place and died shortly afterward.

The peak of Steeneck’s term came in May, when she began a brief stint as Fairfield’s top official. Former First Selectman Kenneth Flatto left to take a post in Hartford. Steeneck, as the other Democrat on the board, inherited the job. She then oversaw the position until Michael Tetreau was chosen as a full-time replacement in June.

“She’s been a mentor and a great example,” Tetreau said. “When you look at the hours per day that Sherri put in while on this job, it’s amazing.”

Fellow appointee Selectman James Walsh praised Steeneck as an “independent thinker.” He said in his farewell to her Wednesday, “When I first came on, I was concerned that it was going to be a two-to-one vote. That didn’t happen.”  

Steeneck had previously served terms on the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Town Plan and Zoning Commission and the Representative Town Meeting. After her experience with the selectmen, she decided not to seek a full term Nov. 8. Cristin McCarthy Vahey will join Tetreau and Walsh.

But Steeneck says she’s not done with public service yet. “I’m not leaving town,” she said. “I’ll be back for some other things.”

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