Stratford’s first-term council chair ‘willing to work with anyone and everyone’

STRATFORD — The Town Council’s new leader is a longtime local attorney and first-time elected official. 

A divided council on Monday voted 6 to 4 to name Carl Glad, a Republican who was elected last month to represent District 8, which covers much of the town’s north end, as chairperson for the next two years. 

“I look forward to helping all town council members achieve their goals,” Glad said in an interview. “I am in it to make Stratford a better place and to move Stratford forward. That’s all I really care about in this job and I am willing to work with anyone and everyone to make sure we can get to that goal.”  

The vote marked the first decision by the new council, which is now evenly split between five Republicans and five Democrats following November’s municipal elections. 

Glad, 41, was nominated by Alan Llewelyn, a Republican from District 9, who praised him for his years of service on the board of the Sterling House Community Center and for leading the town’s commission on aging. 

Glad succeeds former Chairperson Christopher Pia, a three-term Republican who did not seek reelection due to term limits. A Stratford native who holds a degree from American University, Glad is a partner at the local law firm Ahlberg & Glad. 

In a statement Mayor Laura Hoydick, a Republican who had endorsed Glad in his election bid, described the new chairperson as a respected attorney and active community member.  

“A lifelong Stratford resident raising his own family here, Carl is committed to the well-being and future of our town, and I am confident he will chair the town council with great care and integrity,” Hoydick said. 

Glad’s candidacy was backed by the council’s GOP members and Alvin O’Neal, a Democrat who broke with his fellow party members to throw his support behind Glad. 

Monday’s vote took place after O’Neal, who previously served three two-year terms on the council in the early 2000s and was elected to represent District 3 last month, declined a nomination from fellow Democrat Kaitlyn Shake, of District 7, to serve as chairperson. 

Instead, O’Neal nominated himself for the role of chairperson pro tempore, a council officer tasked with presiding over meetings when the chairperson is absent. Republicans supported O’Neal while the other four Democrats voted for Anthony Afriyie, of District 5. 

Glad said the council’s Republican caucus reached out to O’Neal prior to the meeting and offered to back his bid as chairperson pro tempore with the understanding that O’Neal would support Glad for chairperson.  

“We thought that it would be appropriate, given that we’re a 5-5 council, that the leadership be bipartisan,” Glad said. “Mr. O’Neal was the person who we thought, given his experience, would serve best in that position.”  

Hoydick is responsible for casting the deciding vote in the event of a tie during normal council votes. But the town’s charter states that “the council shall choose” a chairperson, making it unclear if the mayor has the power to break a tie during leadership votes.

O’Neal said he learned of the proposed leadership deal during a meeting with fellow Democrats before the organizing meeting. He said he ultimately declined the nomination to be chairperson because he was concerned it would lead to a deadlock. 

“You’ve got to go with the votes,” O’Neal said. “We didn’t have the votes for that.”