Former Wethersfield Town Council member Michael Hurley remembered as “everybody’s best friend”
Known for his love of community service, as well as for using his financial expertise creatively for the town, former Wethersfield Town Council member Michael Hurley passed away Jan. 7, after a long battle with cancer, at the age of 58.
Hurley leaves his wife, four children, and one grandchild.
Hurley was a member of the council’s Budget and Finance Committee for all five terms while on the council. Mayor Michael Rell served with Hurley from 2013 until Hurley resigned due to his health issues in 2020.
“It’s truly heartbreaking,” Rell said. “Mike was a great friend, not only to me, but pretty much to anybody and everybody in Wethersfield. He made an impact on so many in our town, not just from his service on the council, but his years as being part of the various PTO committees for his kids’ schools. He was instrumental in the youth soccer program, having served on the board.”
“He cared very deeply about the town,” said Richard Roberts, chairman of the Wethersfield Republican Town Committee. “He was very well liked and respected. It was unfortunate. Everyone is very upset about it.”
Rell said Hurley was also very engaged with the Wethersfield Chamber of Commerce, and co-chair of the Wethersfield St. Patrick’s Day Committee.
“He was just an incredible person who was loved by so many in our town,” Rell added.
Hurley was known as a “fiscal hawk” while on the council, not only watching spending and making sure the town was making fiscally sound decisions, but also finding creative ways for the town to save and make money.
“He was our budget guru,” Rell said. “He was able to take it, line by line, and go through it.”
“One of the things he was instrumental in doing included focusing on the budget, including leveling off the debt in order to allow us to renovate the high school,” Roberts said. “He worked with the town manager and others on the council to take the funds that came from the sale of the Northeast Utilities building and create, essentially, an economic development trust fund for the town. There were things that made more than little changes around the margins, some of them were substantial financial changes in the budget structure of the town. That was one of his strengths, as well as being everybody’s best friend.”
The decision to resign from the council was heartbreaking for Hurley, Rell said, adding that doctors had told Hurley to “take it easy” and not take part in activities beyond his occupation, which was as an accountant at the Travelers’ Insurance Company, in Hartford.
“I asked him to get involved again, later on, on different committees. He wasn’t able to do it then. But, I’d see him having breakfast, coffee with residents, staying involved with everything in the community.”
“He was the life of the party,” Rell said. “People just smiled when he walked in, because they knew they were going to hear a joke, or be uplifted somehow with what Mike had to say.”
