Beacon Falls Board of Assessment Appeals chairman spurns call to resign

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By Andreas Yilma, Staff Writer

BEACON FALLS — Board of Assessment Appeals Chairman Gary Komarowsky has decided to remain in his position after the Board of Selectmen called for him to resign last month.

The Board of Selectmen voted, 2-1, in October to draft a letter to ask Komarowsky to step down after a resident and employee complained about his behavior. First Selectman Gerard Smith, who is unaffiliated, sent a letter dated Oct. 8 formally asking Komarowsky, a Democrat, to resign from his elected position.

The complaints followed two incidents in September.

After a Board of Assessment Appeals meeting Sept. 14, Komarowsky walked to a woman’s home at about 10:15 p.m. to speak with her. He had a cigar and a glass of gin and tonic at the time. The woman, who was at the meeting, filed an appeal and won.

Komarowsky previously said he walked over to congratulate the woman.

The woman complained about his actions to Smith and filed a complaint with police. Police determined there wasn’t anything criminal about what Komarowsky did and there were no charges filed. Police advised him to not contact the woman.

Tax Collector Jennifer Bilsky filed a complaint about Komarowsky with town’s human resources firm, McInnis Inc., after an incident in the tax office on the morning of Sept. 15.

Komarowsky was already in the tax office when Bilsky arrived for work and didn’t say anything for some time until identifying himself, according to officials. Komarowsky, who had a key to Town Hall because he is a chairman of a commission, previously said he was in the office waiting for Assessor June Chadderton to arrive so he could notify her of the decisions made by the board the previous night.

Komarowsky said last week he is not resigning from the board.

“Nothing that I did affects my job as chairman of the Board of Assessment Appeals,” Komarowsky said.

The Board of Selectmen can’t simply force Komarowsky to resign because he’s an elected official.

Smith said he isn’t going to seek any other legal avenues to try to remove Komarowsky from office, citing what he called support for Komarowsky by the Democratic Town Committee.

Democratic Town Committee Chairman Peter Betkoski said the committee is looking more into the matter.

Komarowsky has served on the board for 17 years and 16 as chairman. His term runs until November 2021.

“We’ll wait and we’ll see,” Komarowsky said on if he plans to run again next year.