FIRMIN TO RUN INDEPENDENTLY IN EAST LYME ELECTION

East Lyme — Wes Firmin has announced that he will run independently for first selectman in the November municipal election.

Firmin has been approved by the Connecticut Secretary of the State's office to appear on the November ballot as a petitioning candidate for first selectman, according to Tina Prakash, a spokeswoman for the secretary of the state's office.

The town clerk's office said it sent Firmin's petition to the Secretary of the State's Office after checking that all 56 signatures are from registered town voters.

Republican Registrar of Voters Mary Devine Smith said Firmin needed 47 signatures to qualify. According to the secretary of the state's website, a candidate needs signatures equal to at least 1 percent of the number of votes cast for the same office in the last municipal election to qualify.

After the Republican Town Committee voted 155-35 at its July caucus to endorse incumbent First Selectman Mark Nickerson, Firmin had announced that he would collect signatures to force a Republican primary. He said he would run independently in November as a last resort.

Firmin, a Republican, said this month that he collected enough signatures that would have enabled him to qualify for a Republican primary, but decided against it. Firmin said he wanted to save the town money and also not disrupt a school day, since education is important to him.

Smith said a primary would have cost approximately $6,000 and would have affected East Lyme High School as that is a town polling place and the primary would have fallen on a school day.

The Democratic Town Committee did not endorse a candidate for first selectman at its caucus last month.