Mayor of Stamford, Connecticut

The mayor of Stamford, Connecticut, United States, is the city's chief executive.

Mayor of Stamford, Connecticut
Incumbent Caroline Simmons since 2021
Type	Mayor
Term length	4 years
Formation	1894
First holder	Charles H. Leeds

History of the mayoralty

Main article: History of Stamford, Connecticut

Before 1945, the city charter of the City of Stamford divided the city into two separate political jurisdictions: a central city with a "strong mayor" form of government and a town which employed the traditional town meeting form of government.^[1] From the 1930s, reformers began seeking to change this system on the grounds that it accorded too much power to the mayor and that the separation of the town and city for some purposes but not others "was an outmoded and inefficient way to govern a modern city."^[1]

In 1946, the Charter Consolidation Inquiry Commission, created by the Connecticut General Assembly, issued recommendations for Stamford government to unify under a single jurisdiction led by a strong mayor, and with a city council (called the Board of Representatives) of forty members, with two elected from twenty districts.^[1] These recommendations were approved by Stamford voters and the new system took effect on April 15, 1949.^[1]

Stamford retains its strong-mayor form of government today.^[1] The mayor appoints the departments heads, acts as chief executive officer of the city, and is responsible for presenting the budget to the board of finance, city council, and planning board.^[1] The city council approves the budget and passes ordinances and resolutions.^[1] Both the mayor and the city council serve four-year terms, and there are no term limits.^[1]

List of mayors of Stamford

The following table lists the mayors of Stamford, as well as their dates in office, their dates of birth, and (if deceased) their dates of death.^[2][3]

Name	Served	Party	Date of birth	Date of death	Notes
Charles H. Leeds	1894-1895		January 9, 1834	November 6, 1914
Edwin L. Scofield	1895-1897		June 18, 1852	January 14, 1918
William J. H. Bohannan	1897-1899		March 9, 1865	August 29, 1947
Edward J. Tupper	1899-1900		September 19, 1853	October 2, 1922
Homer Stille Cummings	1900-1902	Democrat	April 30, 1870	September 10, 1956
Charles H. Leeds	1902-1904		January 6, 1873	February 7, 1967
Homer Stille Cummings	1904-1906	Democrat	April 30, 1870	September 10, 1956	Subsequently Attorney General of the United States (1933-1939)
Edward J. Tupper	1906-1910		September 19, 1853	October 2, 1922
Charles E. Rowell	1911-1913		May 3, 1849	March 29, 1914
Walter G. Austin	1913-1915		December 9, 1853	January 14, 1937
John M. Brown	1915-1915		November 7, 1856	December 10, 1915
John J. Treat	1916-1922		June 10, 1873	February 7, 1928
Alfred N. Phillips, Jr.	1923-1924	Democrat	April 23, 1894	January 18, 1970
John F. Keating	1924-1926		September 8, 1876	September 15, 1946
Alfred N. Phillips, Jr.	1927-1928	Democrat	April 23, 1894	January 18, 1970
William W. Graves	1928-1930		October 28, 1868	December 26, 1965
John F. Keating	1934-1935		September 8, 1876	September 15, 1946
Joseph P. Boyle	1930-1934		1883	May 25, 1948
Alfred N. Phillips, Jr.	1935-1936	Democrat	April 23, 1894	January 18, 1970	Subsequently representative from Connecticut's 4th congressional district
Edward A. Gonnoud	1936-1938	Democrat	September 12, 1892	June 26, 1951
Charles E. Moore	1938-1940	Republican	June 29, 1884	June 22, 1967
Edward A. Gonnoud	1940-1942	Democrat	September 12, 1892	June 26, 1951
Charles E. Moore	1942-1949	Republican	June 29, 1884	June 22, 1967
George T. Barrett	1949-1951	Republican	November 29, 1884	October 11, 1954
Thomas F. J. Quigley	1951-1957	Democrat	April 19, 1903	November 9, 1996
Webster C. Givens	1957-1959	Republican[4]	December 23, 1898	September 7, 1968
James Walter Kennedy	1959-1963	Democrat	June 8, 1912	June 26, 1977	Subsequently Commissioner of the NBA (1963–1975)
William F. Hickey Jr.	1963-1963	Democrat	May 28, 1929	July 21, 2016
Thomas C. Mayers	1963-1967	Republican[5]	March 21, 1909	December 20, 1997
Bruno E. Giordano	1967-1969	Democrat[5]	July 29, 1929	May 27, 2016
Julius Morris Wilensky	1969-1973	Republican[6]	October 10, 1916	October 25, 2004
Frederick P. Lenz, Jr.	1973-1975	Democrat[6]
Louis A. Clapes	1975-1983	Republican[7]	April 10, 1917	November 20, 1990
Thom Serrani	1983-1991	Democrat[8]	1948	—	Elementary school redistricting plan sent South Field Village Housing Projects children to Cove Schools
Stanley J. Esposito	1991-1995	Republican		—
Dannel Patrick "Dan" Malloy	1995-2009	Democrat	July 21, 1955	—	Subsequently governor of Connecticut
Michael Pavia	2009-2013	Republican		—
David R. Martin	2013–2021	Democrat	February 23, 1953	—
Caroline Simmons	2021–Present	Democrat	February 10, 1986	—	First female mayor in Stamford history

Notes

1. Peter F. Burns, Electoral Politics Is Not Enough: Racial and Ethnic Minorities and Urban Politics (State University of New York Press, Albany, 2006), pp. 25-26.
2. Stamford Mayors, Stamford Board of Representatives.
3. Stamford Mayors Archived 2015-04-27 at archive.today, Ferguson Library.
4. "More of a Long Story".
5. "Former Stamford mayor Bruno Giordano dies at 86". Stamford Advocate. 30 May 2016.
6. "Democrat Elected in Stamford, Beating 2-Term C. O. P. Mayor". The New York Times. 7 November 1973.
7. "Louis Clapes, 73, Dies; Ex-Mayor of Stamford". The New York Times. 25 November 1990.
8. Judson, George (27 October 1991). "Stamford, Hoping for Growth, Chooses a Mayor". The New York Times.

External links

• Consolidation - Fifty Years in the Making from the Stamford Board of Representatives