WILTON, CT — The Board of Selectmen has appointed Matt Knickerbocker as Wilton’s first town administrator for a three-year term, effective Sept. 7, 2022.
Knickerbocker is currently the Bethel first selectman, a position he has held for 13 years. He tendered his resignation Wednesday morning. Only a “few key people” in his administration had been made aware of his decision, he told Patch, pending formal approval by the Wilton Board of Selectmen. That happened Tuesday night.
The move comes as a surprise to almost everyone, but Knickerbocker said he has long been searching for a job that would allow him to serve within the public sector, but outside the election cycle.
“I kind of want to move away from the political side of things and just serve the public and do the best job I can in that realm. So that that led me in this direction,” Knickerbocker said. “I’ve actually looked at a couple of opportunities in the past two years. But this one, being right here in our neighborhood, I thought was just a wonderful opportunity. And I’m honored to be selected to fulfill this role.”
Knickerbocker, who has worked closely with Wilton First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice as members of the Western Connecticut Council of Governments Executive Committee, said he was not given any heads-up about the new job. It was only after he saw the opening posted on a municipal industries job board that he called Vanderslice, who encouraged him to send in a resume.
The search to fill the new position has been ongoing for months, but Vanderslice said Knickerbocker’s resume stood out as he “brings a wealth of knowledge, having served in leadership positions within Connecticut municipal government and the private sector.”
Wilton’s new town administrator has also held leadership positions with the Connecticut Coalition for Sustainable Material Management, Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, Housatonic Resource Recovery Authority, Connecticut Council of Small Towns, and Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency. Knickerbocker is also a former elected member and chair of the Bethel Board of Education and served while Wilton’s Superintendent Kevin Smith was employed by the Bethel Public Schools. In the private sector, Knickerbocker had a twenty-five-year career in the consumer photo/electronics industry with the Fujifilm USA Corporation.
In his new role as Wilton town administrator, Knickerbocker will provide the day-to-day management of most of the town’s departments. He predicted the addition of such positions on municipal org charts are the wave of the future in Connecticut.
“If I were to stay in Bethel, I would try to structure a position just like that, because it is such a smart thing to do for the community, to have a position that can provide management consistency, as elected leaders may change over time,” Knickerbocker said.
In the meantime, Bethel will be absent both a town administrator and a first selectman after Sept. 7. The town’s charter calls for Second Selectman Richard Straiton to take the conn until a special election can determine a top dog. But state laws that mandate allowing time for petitioning candidates and caucuses make that election unlikely to happen before mid-January, 2023, Knickerbocker predicted.
