WILTON — Wilton Water and Wasterwater Superintendent Heinz Gossman has left, effective Wednesday, April 19.
Town Manager Perry Ellsworth announced his departure from the position at the Wilton select board meeting on Tuesday, April 18.
Gossman took on the role of superintendent in November of 2017 and has been working since then on making sure the town of Wilton has clean, running water from Varnum Pond.
“We wish him the best,” Ellsworth stated. “He’s done an excellent job and, you know, his expertise in both water and sewer are felt here.”
According to Ellsworth, Assistant Superintendent Dalton Plante will be the interim superintendent as they begin to advertise for the position.
“We truly do wish him the best of all worlds,” he added when speaking of Gossman.
Gossman has a lot of faith in Plante and his ability to handle the job.
“He is well qualified, and I have been training him for this since he got here,” Gossman said.
As for Gossman, he currently does not have any plans.
“I am off for the next chapter of my life,” he said in an email. “I am a worker, and something will work out, it always does.”
Ellsworth expressed hope that Gossman could return to assist in the water transmission line project, which he had been directly involved in since its inception.
Gossman is a man known for many character traits, but his most defining trait in the role was the desire to always look out for the town’s most vulnerable citizens.
When faced with the need to increase the rates for both water and sewer, Gossman worked tirelessly to find a solution that fulfilled the need while making it easier on the elderly citizens of Wilton, many of whom are living on fixed incomes.
“As I always say, the people that I’m most concerned about are our fixed income residents, the retirees, the people,” Gossman said at a Wilton select board meeting regarding increasing sewer rates. “They ain’t getting any more money. That’s what they got, and this is what affects them the most.”
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