Stonington — Board of Finance Chairman John O’Brien, who has battled health problems in recent months, will resign today.

In July, O’Brien had told the town he would resign as of Oct. 1 but then began to reconsider that decision. After a recent hospitalization, O’Brien, a Democrat, has reaffirmed that he will step down as of today.

The Democratic Town Committee is now seeking a candidate to complete the remainder of O’Brien’s six-year term, which ends in November 2017.

The town committee will recommend a replacement to the remaining Democratic members of the finance board, who then will appoint O’Brien’s successor.

Town committee Chairman Ray Trebisacci said Tuesday that any interested Democrat may contact him. He said the town committee would like to choose a candidate by Saturday so it could make the recommendation to the finance board in time for its next meeting on Oct. 15. He said a few Democrats already have expressed interest.

“We really appreciate John’s long service to the Board of Finance and his fine tradition of government and community service,” Trebisacci said. “We’re sad he has to resign. His presence will be missed.”

“He has always tried to keep the well-being of all the citizens in mind when making a decision,” acting board Chairman Glenn Frishman added Tuesday.

O’Brien’s departure also means the finance board will have to choose a new chairman. Frishman, who had a long tenure as chairman before O'Brien took over, declined to say whether he would be interested in serving again as chairman.

“I’ll wait to see what my colleagues on the board want to do,” he said.

The Charter Revision Commission recently began reconsidering the way finance board members are elected after a citizen’s group collected more than 1,500 signatures to force the creation of the commission to examine the question. The commission also will consider decreasing the term of service for members from six years and changing the makeup of the board so that there is an odd rather than even number of members.

Currently, every two years, two members — each with six-year terms — come up for re-election. The current procedure calls for the Democratic and Republican town committees to nominate one candidate for each of the two positions. This means that if there is no third party, petitioning or independent candidate, the two party-endorsed candidates run unopposed and are elected. Voters are asked to select one of the two candidates on their ballots, but both are elected. Petitioners want to change the charter to ensure there are always contested elections.

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Twitter: @joewojtas

If you want to serve

Town committee Chairman Ray Trebisacci said Tuesday that any Democrat interested in serving the remaining term of former Board of Finance Chairman John O'Brien may contact Trebisacci at (860) 599-4000.