DiMartino names long-time public servant as chief of staff in Derby

DERBY - Mayor Joseph L. DiMartino announced Saturday he has chosen long-time public servant Linda Fusco as Chief of Staff for the City of Derby.

Fusco has served the City of Derby for multiple terms as an Alderwoman and most recently as Chair of the Derby Housing Authority. 

She also served for several terms as Chair of the Derby Democratic Town Committee. She served as Campaign Manager for Mayor DiMartino for both his 2021 and 2023 campaigns.

“I have every confidence that Linda Fusco will be a tremendous asset to the City of Derby in this role because she approaches leadership in a collaborative style, and this is what the City needs to fix the mountain of unfinished business that we walked into a month ago,” said DiMartino.

Fusco retired from the Connecticut Department of Children and Families Services as a supervisor for social workers. “She has management experience and understands the issues facing the City of Derby and how to improve the quality of life here in Derby.” he continued. She also was highly active in Derby Pop Warner as the Cheer coordinator for many years.

“I share Mayor DiMartino’s vision for an inclusive and transparent management approach to governing. We ran with a platform for fixing the financial and other issues plaguing the City of Derby and we will do our best to do what we said we would do,” said Fusco, wife of the late former long-time City Sheriff Sal Fusco.

DiMartino said, “Linda and I share a vision with our entire team to show up every day and work hard together to make Derby the best that it can be. I have complete confidence in her ability to bring people together.”

Fusco began her work Jan. 2, 2024. The position is full time, and her salary will be $75,000 per year, the same as the starting salary for former Chief of Staff Andrew Baklik when he began his service in 2017.

This is a press release from Derby Town/City Clerk Marc Garofalo.