ENFIELD, CT — District 4 town councilor Nick Hopkins has sent a letter to his five Democratic colleagues on the board, demanding they retract statements they made last week regarding their call for him to resign his position.

Mayor Bob Cressotti, Deputy Mayor Gina Cekala and councilors Cindy Mangini, John Santanella and Matt Despard publicly asked Hopkins to step down last week. Controversy stemmed from the April 3 council meeting, at which Republican councilor Ken Nelson said Hopkins had discussed a matter with a constituent that had been brought up in executive session, not for the general public.

Hopkins responded to the resignation request by not only refusing to step down, but expressing confidence he will be re-nominated for his seat by the Democratic voters of his district.

"I've done my best to represent District 4, and I feel I will be re-nominated by the district members," he told Patch ;last week. "I will not step down; I will continue on as elected by the people of District 4."

He sent his demand of a retraction to Cressotti, Cekala, Mangini, Santanella and Despard Monday morning.

"Their statements unfortunately contained provably false claims that I had breached a duty of confidentiality in my capacity as town councilor and constitute defamation," Hopkins told Patch. "I am now requesting that they publicly retract their defamatory statements pursuant to Connecticut law."

The full letter, provided to Patch by Hopkins, appears below.

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