Connecticut town manager pulls down $210k-a-year side hustle — 2,000 miles away in Wyoming

Independent

6 days ago

The chief financial officer in Wilton, Connecticut, resigned last week after town officials discovered she was simultaneously serving as a town administrator in a Wyoming town 2,000 miles away.
However, Dawn Norton claims she fully complied with her employment terms when she took on the role of Town Administrator and Finance Director in Greybull, Wyoming, and says she kept Wilton's leadership fully informed about the arrangement.
Norton began serving as Wilton's CFO in March 2022 and took on the Wyoming position in May, Wilton Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker told CT Insider on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Norton told Good Morning Wilton that she had been working remotely for Wilton from Wyoming since February of this year while on Family Medical Leave, caring for her injured husband. In April, she applied to the Greybull job and was initially hired on a part-time trial basis before being offered a permanent full-time position.
'I gave him my retirement notice — I gave it to him when I went full-time,' Norton told the outlet. 'My notice said I'd give them full support, whatever it is, up to Nov. 3… when all department head contracts are … renewed. I said, 'I'll do 100 percent of everything. I will get the audit done. I will attend meetings. I will do whatever it is that you need me to do in my full capacity.'
But Knickerbocker tells CT Insider, 'On Sunday night, our HR director … alerted me that Dawn was listed as the town administrator ... for Greybull, Wyoming.'
'On Monday morning, I called her to verify that and found that yes, she had" taken on the new role.
Once HR confirmed with Norton that she held both positions, she resigned from Wilton.
Both Knickerbocker and First Selectwoman Toni Boucher say Norton never told them about her confirmed job in Greybull. Norton disagrees, pointing to a written notice she sent on April 7, 2025, to Boucher and the HR director stating she was 'actively seeking employment elsewhere.'
The Wilton officials say the town allows occasional part-time external roles only in limited, emergency situations, not another full-time public office, which would have prevented approval had they known.
The Independent has contacted representatives for the Town of Wilton, the Town of Greybull, and Norton for comment.
This controversy arose amid a recent Town Hall review triggered by concerns over Wilton's Finance Department, including auditor findings of 'material weakness,' chronic understaffing, unauthorized tax credits, and a difficult budget process. Town officials had focused on the department being overworked, unaware Norton was also employed elsewhere.
Norton said these ongoing issues at Town Hall motivated her decision to leave Wilton.
'[It] is one of the reasons why I was actively seeking to get the heck out of dodge because I can't handle the work that was being dumped on me, and I was not getting any support whatsoever in hiring positions in my office. For a year, I did accounts payable — I paid the bills, I filed the invoices, and that is not my responsibility, that is a clerk's responsibility,' she said.
She said that 'negativity' surrounding the audit's material weakness and the senior tax credit issue added to the stress of her job.
'I want out. I'm tired of the negative that I keep getting pushed on me. People aren't listening to the situation,' she told Good Morning Wilton. 'I can't do it all, and there's no help in my office, and there's no help and support from Toni or from Matt.'
'Everybody keeps saying, 'Well, the assessor and the [tax] collector report to the finance director.' No, they don't. They report to Matt. I have nothing to do with tax collection and assessment. The only thing I review is what gets posted to the ledger. And as for the material weakness, the material weakness is because we don't have the staff in my office to get all the work done that we need to get done,' she continued.
Wilton's Board of Selectmen swiftly posted the CFO vacancy upon Norton's resignation, setting a revised salary range of $160,000 to $200,000, down from Norton's $210,108 in 2024, removing Board of Education responsibilities from the role, and creating a search committee to appoint an interim CFO immediately.
In Greybull, council meeting minutes show Norton was officially appointed as Town Administrator on May 12, and she has since participated in municipal meetings, delivered financial reports, and signed official resolutions.