Waterbury’s town clerks join growing list of municipal staff resignations

December 10, 2025  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Waterbury Assistant Town Clerk Beth Jones (left) and Town Clerk Karen Petrovic (right) watch over Waterbury's 2024 Town Meeting Day election. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti

In a letter to the Waterbury Select Board on Tuesday, Town Clerk Karen Petrovic submitted her resignation, saying that Friday, Jan. 2, will be her last day in her elected role in town government.

Petrovic’s notice came a day after Assistant Town Clerk Beth Jones announced she will be retiring in early 2026, although Jones has not chosen a date yet for when she plans to step down from the part-time position she’s held for 15 years.

The two announcements are the latest in a raft of municipal staff resignations over the past several months that now number at least seven, although Petrovic is the only elected official to step down. 

Since September, Waterbury municipal staff resignations have included both full-time Recreation Department staffers Katie Mandych and Katarina Lisaius, Zoning Administrator Mike Bishop, Bookkeeper Michelle Ryan and a Waterbury Public Library employee. 

In her resignation letter, Petrovic reflects on her more than 10 years working for the town and the Edward Farrar Utility District, where she previously was the water and wastewater departments’ billing clerk. “During that time I have strived to learn as much about municipal functions as possible in order to best assist residents of the community and be an asset as a staff member,” she wrote. “Town and EFUD staff are the core of the community providing necessary services to residents.”

Petrovic told the Waterbury Roundabout that she will be starting a new job with the state Department of Corrections in Waterbury in January. 

On staff since 2015, Petrovic in June 2022 was unanimously appointed by the Waterbury Select Board to serve as interim town clerk and treasurer as longtime Town Clerk and Treasurer Carla Lawrence was retiring. Petrovic was appointed to serve until the March 2023 election when she ran unopposed for the office. 

That year, voters also approved changing the town clerk and treasurer terms from one to three years, to begin in 2024. Petrovic last year again ran unopposed and won re-election to three-year terms as clerk and treasurer, which end in 2027.  

The process to name a new town clerk in between elections calls for the select board to appoint a clerk until the next local election. In this case, someone could be appointed to the office to serve until Town Meeting Day on March 3. The remaining year of Petrovic’s unexpired terms as clerk and treasurer would be on the ballot for voters to fill in that election.  

Jones, whose position is a hired staff role, said she would like to retire early in the new year and she would be willing to help train a new town clerk if necessary before Town Meeting Day. She said she has been thinking about retiring for several months and decided to move ahead with her decision now that her husband has cut back to working part-time. “It was not an easy decision. I love the people I work with,” Jones said. 

In an email to her co-workers, Jones said she had mixed emotions about taking this step now. “I truly enjoy working with each of you…but it’s time. I am grateful to have been part of the team that makes our community a wonderful place but I am also looking forward to my new adventure, whatever it may be,” she wrote.

Petrovic echoed that sentiment, reflecting on the role she is leaving. “I love being the town clerk,” she said. “It’s been an honor to be called that for three years.” 

But her resignation letter also contained a strong rebuke of the workplace climate at the town offices: “It saddens me that the events of the last year have meant numerous staff resignations. The current culture of dishonesty and lack of accountability at the Municipal office has forced many like myself to explore other opportunities,” she wrote to the select board. “The quality of my work life has steadily declined and has reached a critical level that I must prioritize my mental health and family life. If you are one of the board members that took the time to meet and talk with me about my concerns, I want to thank you. Your willingness to hear my story did matter.”

Petrovic last fall registered her dissatisfaction with changes made to the town health insurance benefits by Municipal Manager Tom Leitz. Revising the town’s benefits resulted in higher out-of-pocket costs for some employees, including the town clerk. Some municipal employees unhappy with the change said the town manager, select board and utility district commissioners moved forward with implementing the change without fully informing the staff. 

Petrovic soon afterward ended her practice of attending select board meetings and taking minutes. It was around that time that the town and utility district staff also mobilized to form a labor union. 

Asked about the latest staff departures, Waterbury Select Board Chair Alyssa Johnson and Vice Chair Kane Sweeney shared a short statement with the Waterbury Roundabout on Wednesday: “The Selectboard was notified yesterday (Tuesday) of the Town Clerk’s letter of resignation and will be taking steps to ensure that services provided by the Town Office to residents remain uninterrupted,” they said.

Staff in flux during labor contract negotiations

The resignations come as municipal staff have been in the process of negotiating two union contracts in the second half of this year. In January, 24 of the town, library and utility district’s 28 employees voted to have the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees labor union – known as AFSCME for short – represent them in contract talks with the town and utility district. 

Employees on the municipal office staff, Waterbury Public Library and Highway Department would be covered by one labor agreement, while workers for the utility district would have a separate contract. 

Talks between town management – including the Select Board and the EFUD Board of Commissioners – and the employees, including an AFSCME representative, began in June with the goal of having draft agreements ready for employee approval by the end of this year.

In July, both the Select Board and the EFUD Board renewed their three-year contract with Municipal Manager Tom Leitz, who was hired in 2022 to succeed then-retiring manager Bill Shepeluk. The contract went into effect Aug. 1.   

And in the past few weeks, two of the municipal staff vacancies have been filled: Nanette Rogers has taken the bookkeeper position and Cheryl Casey has been hired as zoning administrator. 

Town Manager Tom Leitz said Wednesday that he has a candidate for the recreation director position to share with the select board for its approval at their next meeting on Monday.