By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — The town’s legislative body, the Representative Town Meeting, has 36 members from nine districts across town and they’re up every two years for re-election.

Four incumbents have not filed papers to run again.

There is still a chance for them to run, if they file petitions with 25 certified voters from their districts. But three of them have told Town Clerk Jeffrey Dunkerton they are out.

The three definitely not running again are James Bairaktaris, District 4; Lori Church, District 9, and Stephen Shackelford, District 8.

Dunkerton hadn’t heard from Kristin Schneeman, District 9.

“The three confirmed with me they’re not running,” Town Clerk Jeffrey Dunkerton told the Westport Journal.

“Schneeman missed the deadline but she has not told me she is not running,” he said.

That means, if Schneeman wants another term, she’ll have to collect 25 petition signatures from registered voters in her district.

Schneeman told the Westport Journal on Saturday she indeed plans to run again.

“We were scrambling to get out of town for three weeks and I completely forgot about the deadline,” she said. When she remembered, there wasn’t time to get the paperwork in.

Schneeman said she’ll go the petition route.

She’s chair of the RTM’s Transit Committee. She’s also a member the Environment, Education, Ordinance, Rules, and Health and Human Services committees.

Shackelford might just be too busy to run again. A partner at Susman Godfrey in New York, he recently was co-counsel in Dominion Voting System’s lawsuit against Fox News and Fox Corp. He helped secure a $787.5 million settlement, believed to be the largest such defamation settlement in U.S. history. And he’s got continuing cases against Rudy Guiliani and other associates of former President Donald Trump, and other news outlets.

Shackelford serves on the Finance, Ordinance and Public Protection committees.

Bairaktaris serves on the Health and Human Services, Parks and Recreation, Public Works and Planning and Zoning committees.

“Having been elected at 23, I think I am the youngest to have served on the RTM,” he told the Westport Journal. “Now older and wiser at the ripe age of 25, I’m looking at new opportunities and the next chapters in my life; I just can’t promise that I’ll be living in District Four in the next two years and so I don’t want to hold a position that I might have to vacate mid-term.”

“One doesn’t need to be on the ballot to make a difference in Westport; I’m confident I’ll find and continue with other outlets to remain active in our community,” Bairaktaris said. “I’ve learned so much and I am so grateful for the opportunity and trust I’ve been granted.”

Church serves on the Environment, Long Range Planning and Library, and Museum and Arts committees.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7.

Any registered voter in Westport can petition to run for the RTM. Petitions are available now at the Town Clerk’s Office in Town Hall, 110 Myrtle Ave.

To qualify for the ballot, a candidate must be a registered voter and is required to gather signatures from 25 other registered voters in the RTM district where they reside, according to Dunkerton.

Political affiliation is not a factor, however, since Westport’s RTM is officially a non-partisan body.

Completed petitions must be filed with the Town Clerk’s Office by Sept. 12.

Among RTM members’ responsibilities are: final approval of the town’s annual budget; voting on proposed appropriations greater than $20,000; approving town ordinances; serving on two or more committees that review and make recommendations regarding appropriations and ordinances to the full body, and reviewing certain decisions by other town boards and commissions.

For more information or questions, contact Dunkerton at 203-341-1105 or jdunkerton@westportct.gov. 

Thane Grauel grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond for 35 years. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.