#MiddleburyCT #CivilRights #FranBarton
By MARJORIE NEEDHAM
In its September 2026 issue, this newspaper reported Middlebury Democratic Registrar of Voters Fran Barton filed a claim against the Town of Middlebury for $992 in wages with the Waterbury Small Claims Court. Since then, we learned Barton also filed a complaint against First Selectwoman Jennifer Mahr with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights.
On September 29, 2026, while we were writing this article, Barton submitted his letter of resignation effective October 1, 2026. We do not believe his resignation will affect either of the two filed complaints. We called Barton on September 29 and left a voice message asking for a comment on his resignation (no reason for it was stated in his letter), but we have not heard back from him as of press time.
When the first case was called for trial on August 21, the Court ordered the Town to file a motion to dismiss the case with additional legal support for those defenses on or before September 20, 2026. The Town filed the motion and additional support of the motion on September 18, 2026. Barton has 21 days from that document’s receipt to respond. As of September 29, no additional document filings are listed. However, a remote court trial is set for Friday, October 30, at 9:30 a.m.
In the second case, Barton stated Mahr had violated his civil rights by terminating him, harassing him, and not paying him wages due to discrimination based on his race, color, sex, age and physical disability. The complaint was dated June 11, 2026, and filed with the state on July 27, 2026. First Selectwoman Mahr said she first learned about it in a Saturday, August 29, email.
Please note the following reporting is limited to the allegations made in the filing. Further reporting will delve into responses from Mahr and factual information surrounding the allegations.
Barton alleges Mahr is discriminating against seven white male town employees over 50, including him. He states she is punishing him for filing an ethics complaint against her.
His individual claims are as follows:
In November 2025, Selectwoman Mahr, who was running for first selectman, and the Middlebury Democratic Town Committee Chair Sally Romano issued a false statement accusing him of improperly storing ballots. He stated an alternative election plan of overnight storage of ballots had been submitted to and approved by the state.
In January 2026, he alleges Mahr disregarded the process of government when she raised a Freedom of Information issue regarding the special meeting and minutes for the special meeting held to elect someone to fill the seat vacated by Mahr’s election to first selectwoman. He stated she directed rewriting of the meeting minutes without discussing it with the meeting participants or reconvening a meeting of the participants and also made public how each person voted without asking them how they voted.
Mahr did not authorize payment to him for working the March 3, 2026, Democratic primary. Mahr said his job description requires him to work elections. Barton said the job description is dated 1999 and does not specify the pay rate or hours required to run elections. He noted for the past 34 years the Town has paid the registrar for time worked during elections. Mahr said the stipend includes that work. Barton said he was paid for election work based on a good faith handshake with former First Selectman Edward B. St. John in March 2024.
Barton said he learned in 2024 that the Town had been paying poll workers, including both registrars, less than the minimum wage for the past 34 years. He then discussed this with Chief Financial Officer Seth Bernstein, and then Barton, Bernstein and St. John created an hourly rate for poll workers and registrars. Those hourly rates began in 2024.
Barton then noted Mahr refused to authorize payment for the May 6, 2026, budget election and for the June 23, 2026, early voting and election.
Barton stated Mahr has a clear pattern of discrimination against white males over 50 that includes:
Letting the previous building inspector go and then replacing him with a younger man at a higher salary. Barton alleges this was because the building official confronted Mahr on her property because a pool was being constructed there without engineered plans.
Barton said because the zoning enforcement officer went to Mahr’s property with the building inspector, Mahr later reduced the ZEO’s hours and duties.
Barton alleges Mahr stated during her campaign for office that she was running for first selectman to get the old white man running the town (St. John) out of office.
Barton said Mahr removed the town attorney and then hired a female attorney at a higher rate. That now-former town attorney was a signatory on Barton’s complaint.
Barton said the assistant public works director, also a white male over 50, was let go via email.
He concluded “there appears to be a pattern of age and sex discrimination by First Selectman Mahr.”
He said he believes he is being discriminated against based on his age, sex, color of his skin and having a hearing disability and requests the Commission investigate the matter, secure his rights and any remedy to which he may be entitled.
We will report on actions of the Commission related to this complaint as the information becomes available.
