BRADBURY — Charles Vallas, the city councilman whose seat was declared vacant because of his unexcused absence from a meeting, has returned home from a 3 1/2-month vacation charging that he was ousted for political reasons.
In a five-page letter that Vallas said he will mail to the city's 873 residents, he charges that City Manager Dolly Vollaire engineered his ouster because he opposed her requests for a 15% salary increase and a city car. Vollaire got the 15% raise, to $35,000 a year, on a 4-1 vote of the council, with Vallas dissenting. She did not get the car. Vollaire declined to comment on Vallas' charges.
Vallas, 67, who had represented District 2 since 1981, last attended a council meeting Oct. 16. He returned to the city from vacation Feb. 7, he said. Under state law, if a council member is absent without permission from all regular city council meetings within a 60-day period after the last regular meeting attended, the office becomes vacant.
Vallas actually missed only one regular meeting of the council before his ouster, because the council's regular meetings are monthly and the December meeting was canceled.
