Dean Esposito grew up in Danbury and served the city as a councilman, town clerk and director of consumer protection and sealer of weights. He became chief of staff to Joseph Cavo when Cavo was appointed to complete Mark Boughton”™s 10th term as mayor in late 2020, and he was elected mayor last November.
In taking the reins of the city”™s mayoralty, Esposito found a city on the verge of transition.
“A lot of projects have been stalled because of Covid,” Esposito said of the current state of the city. “But we”™re moving forward on a lot of projects and today”™s a good day. Everything”™s going very well. Since I got elected, me and my administration are really moving forward on some serious, successful projects.”
“We have a new high school/middle school that we”™re in the process of closing on the location of in the next few weeks,” he continued. “That”™s one of our biggest projects right now. We”™ll have a second high school in Danbury, which is desperately needed as we have got a huge influx of new residents, and with those residents come children.”
The planned site of the new high school is currently an office building, which Esposito said will yield considerable savings for the city. New utilities will not need to be installed, and with the exception of gym facilities the majority of construction work will be limited to interior work.
Allowing that a bump in tax rates had proved necessary, he felt justified in calling Danbury the “Shining Star of Connecticut.”
“The proof is in the pudding,” he said, citing a low mill rate and successful efforts to conclude projects that were started before his election.
In terms of challenges facing his city, Esposito pointed to the ongoing housing crisis as a chief concern.
“It has severely impacted our community,” he said. “Much of the impact is coming from the New York side of the border. Most of the current influx is coming from Brewster and Westchester County and buying properties in the area.”
“With regards to affordable housing we”™re right at the percentages that we need to be at,” he added, “but obviously when you get a huge influx it takes a bit of time to get in the flow. But in general Danbury”™s doing pretty well with regards to housing, though prices are up because demand is up too.”
Esposito stressed that he is working with surrounding communities to handle these challenges as well. He said that the mayor of Danbury needs to maintain a strong working relationship with the smaller adjacent towns, as well as all the municipalities that border Candlewood Lake.
“We try to talk to each other as much as possible,” he added, saying that the Western Connecticut Council of Governments has been helpful for facilitating communication and resource coordination between municipalities.
According to Esposito, this has put the entire region on a strong economic footing.
“In the greater Danbury area, the business environment is pretty solid,” he said. “But for Danbury itself, I have to tell I”™ve been cutting ribbons, two, three times a week. With the low mill rate and the effort we have put out with our business development department the reality is we are very stable here in Danbury.”
“The problem that we”™re having now,” Esposito added, “is finding space for the larger corporations, they”™re showing up pretty quickly.”
While he characterized issues with space as a “good problem to have” there was another matter Esposito considered noteworthy.
“I think the biggest challenge right now is the perception that Covid is over,” he said. “It may never be over.”
Esposito pointed out that Danbury was the first municipality in the state to have a Covid patient at the start of the pandemic and has pursued an aggressive approach to managing exposure ever since. Encouraging vaccination and social distancing are key according to him, but awareness remains central to fighting the virus.
“We have to keep educating our citizens and the community out there to continually be alert and do what they need to prevent themselves from getting sick,” he warned.
