Enfield council hires ex-Bristol mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu as interim town manager

Dec. 21—ENFIELD — The Town Council on Monday voted unanimously to hire Ellen Zoppo-Sassu, a former two-term mayor of Bristol, as interim town manager.

Zoppo-Sassu, 53, a Democrat who last month failed to win a third term as Bristol's mayor, begins her new job in town today.

In an interview after the meeting, Zoppo-Sassu said she became aware of the need for a town manager after she read about the Nov. 15th council meeting where Christopher W. Bromson became frustrated, abruptly announced his plan to resign, and stormed out.

"A couple of friends reached out and asked if I had ever considered doing that job and it was right after the election loss in Bristol," she said. "I had always thought I would pursue a town manager-type role after grad school, but other jobs popped up and I got politically involved in my own town and it never really happened."

Bromson, whose last day on the job was Dec. 6, worked for the town in various capacities for more than 30 years, the last three as town manager.

Not long after Bromson announced his plan to resign, a posting about an interim town manager's job in Enfield was put up on the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities' website and Zoppo-Sassu applied. She was among three candidates for the job, and after one dropped out, town officials interviewed her and the other candidate.

Zoppo-Sassu graduated from Providence College in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in political science. She earned a master's degree in public administration, with a concentration in local and urban government, from the University of Connecticut in 1992.

She was elected to the Bristol City Council in 2001 and represented the 2nd Council District until 2007. She also represented the 3rd Council District from 2013 through 2015. She served as Bristol's first female mayor from 2017 through last month.

Zoppo-Sassu emphasized that her new role is a non-partisan position.

"I believe the job is more of working with the elected officials and hearing their visions and their priorities and then giving them the feedback as to whether those ideas are possible within the framework of budget policy and regulatory issues, and if they are possible then it's my job to set them on a path of implementation," she said.

Zoppo-Sassu noted some of the similarities and differences between Enfield and Bristol.

NEW INTERIM TOWN MANAGER

WHO: Ellen Zoppo-Sassu

WHAT: Officially hired as Enfield's interim town manager Monday after a unanimous vote from the Town Council.

NEXT STEP: She begins her new job today.

"Enfield is a little smaller population wise than Bristol, but it's bigger from a square mile perspective," she said. "There's a lot of the same issues but there are also some new ones. We don't have rural farmland in Bristol so that is going to be interesting to get involved in. But we also have a pandemic response, we also have a farmers market, we have importance on public safety, so a lot will be very similar."

Several council members praised and thanked Police Chief Alaric Fox for stepping in and working double duty as both the police chief and acting town manager for nearly a month before Zoppo-Sassu was hired.

Councilman Nick Hopkins said Zoppo-Sassu will be an asset to the town.

"I was very impressed with Ms. Zoppo-Sassu and her qualifications as well as her interview, and I am very excited to begin to utilize her expertise, especially with COVID grant money as we approach the beginning of using that for various town projects and infrastructure. I wanted to thank her for her professionalism."

Councilman John Santanella also praised Zoppo-Sassu.

"We had an amazing interview with Ellen and I think she impressed all of us," Santanella said.

Zoppo-Sassu said she's interested in eventually becoming the town's permanent town manager.

"The deadline for applying for the full-time position is in two weeks, so I am assuming that if I have a good couple of weeks, then I would do so," she said.

She confirmed that her salary as interim town manager is set at $125,000.

"I thought that was very fair for an interim position where they are getting to know me, I am getting to know the community, and there's a lot going on so I didn't want to spend a lot of time dealing with minutia like that," she said.

Zoppo-Sassu said she is looking forward to getting to work, which starts with taking a tour of the town and meeting as many people from town as she can.

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