issues
Everything I do, I do as a team with other city professionals. When we don’t have in-house experts, we hire expert consultants. I never make decisions alone. And that is why we are getting so much done in the city.
When I first ran for mayor in 2017, I said that I would "do two terms; three terms tops." There are several projects underway that I would like to see completed. In my third and final term as mayor, I will continue to work on improving the city center, fund education without layoffs, build more sidewalks so people can enjoy their neighborhoods, make Attleboro a cleaner and greener place to live, and respond to every resident who contacts me about what is important to them.
When I first ran for mayor in 2017, I said that I would "do two terms; three terms tops." There are several projects underway that I would like to see completed. In my third and final term as mayor, I will continue to work on improving the city center, fund education without layoffs, build more sidewalks so people can enjoy their neighborhoods, make Attleboro a cleaner and greener place to live, and respond to every resident who contacts me about what is important to them.
Paul's Third Term Goals
2022-2023
2022-2023
Using existing revenues, in my third and final term as mayor, I plan to focus on:
You
Most importantly, always respond to you and your concerns. I cannot promise that I will solve every concern you have but I’ll always try and if I can’t solve an issue, I’ll explain why. The biggest part of my job is responding to constituent needs. It was when I was a state representative and it is now as mayor. I communicate with residents every day more than any one department. In a city of about 47,000 people, that is to be expected. You can contact me through this website contact page, my Facebook page, or by writing to me or calling me at City Hall.
Education
The school department is not under the jurisdiction of the mayor's management. The school committee and the school superintendent manage the schools. However, the mayor is critical to the needed funding for projects the school department needs. By working closely with the school superintendent, I have closed the gap in city support for education.
Some third term plans for education include:
Public Safety
We are fortunate to have a well trained and professional police force and fire department. The police chief and fire chief have decades of experience in their respective fields. Anything the police chief or the fire chief have ever asked funding for, I have provided the funding for. Working with the police chief and the fire chief, ideas to improve the police and fire departments have been proposed and implemented.
During my time as mayor, I increased the police training budget from $50,000 to $100,000 and then again from $100,000 to $125,000. Before I leave my time as mayor, I plan to fund police training at $150,000, which the police chief and I think will be sufficient. Police training is what gives our police officers the tools they need to navigate unpredictable situations. Training has included but is not limited to: de-escalation tactics, implicit bias awareness, autism awareness, and duty to intervene.
Speeding and traffic related issues are two of the three most common complaints I get as mayor. As such, I funded the creation of a police traffic unit, have installed lighted crosswalks at key crossings in the city and have more on the way, installed speed radars throughout the city with more on the way, created a permanent speed hump ordinance so residents of neighborhoods can petition the city to have speed humps constructed on their residential cut through streets.
I have also stopped the practice of taking out debt to pay for police cruisers when we know we need to purchase three new cruisers each year and retire three. By budgeting for the replacement of cruisers, we no longer take out debt and pay interest on the debt.
When Coronavirus hit, I made sure that police and fire (and all departments) had the personal protective equipment they needed to stay as safe as possible. When COVID-19 wasn't covered by the contract with the police and fire unions, I added it to the contracts. I added HEPA air purifiers to all offices that have two or more people. I followed the state and federal government guidance and requirements and enforced those guidelines to keep city employees, their family and the public safer than they would have otherwise been under a less rigorous enforcement of best practices.
When the fire chief came to me in March 2019 and asked for two new fire gear extractors in the July 1 budget, I did better. I purchased one immediately, and then planned the second for the July 1 budget. The city ended up getting a grant for the second one.
When the fire chief asked me to make sure that every firefighter has two sets of turnout gear, I made sure it was in the budget each year. We are no on a rotation cycle where we budget the older set of gear replaced on a regular basis.
Some third term plans for public safety include:
Community
The parks located throughout the city have also seen revitalization during my tenure. Finberg Field, Highland Park, Lee's Pond, Poncin-Hewitt and more have all see significant improvements working with the department heads. Often times the department head will come to me with an idea to make their department better. Other times I ask department heads to come up with plans to improve different aspects of the city. They come back to me with a plan and a funding request. I take that to the city council and the council decides. So far, we have been successfully in advocating for improvements throughout the city. I encourage people to visit the many parks. Some parks and fields have recently seen improvements, some improvements are underway, and other improvements are planned for 2022.
The city only has so much money to work with and spending is a reflection of priorities. One of the things I have prioritized is better equipment for DPW, the Recreation Department and Park & Forestry. When our city employees have the right tools, they can do the job right.
One of the projects I am actively working on is building a performing arts venue at Highland Park. The funding source is identified. Plans are being drafted by a group of performing arts volunteers.
Some third term plans include:
Downtown Revitalization
Downtown is becoming an experience you can't get online or at the mall. Rome was not built in a day and Attleboro won't transform overnight. But the foundation has been placed and projects are underway. Several new businesses have opened in the city center. The redevelopment of old mill buildings is underway.
Attleboro is a small city but a great one. It is a place that people can work, reside and recreate. Since taking office, I have taken several steps to improve the city center and the experience for the rest of the city. The city center is a place a lot of people want to see improvements. My goal has been to increase the number of people living in the downtown by working on the redevelopment of existing land and property. This in turn will increase the amount of foot traffic needed to support new businesses that my administration is bringing to the city. Additionally, by focusing on opening businesses that are unique and provide people with a reason to come to the downtown, Attleboro's city center is making progress not seen in decades.
One of the recent projects is the redevelopment of the alleyway behind the city owned parking garage on Sanford Street. This new alleyway is being name Cuddy Court, after the Cuddy family and their adjacent business. This venue will be used to have festivals, concerts and other outdoor activities.
Some third term plans include:
Other Issues
Some things that are important to you include but are not limited to:
Trash and Recycling - The contract the city has with WM is one of the best and most affordable in the region. It’s pretty much impossible to do an apples to apples comparison from our city to any other surrounding community because the services we receive in our contract, and what we pay is different from municipality to municipality. However for the number of services we receive in Attleboro, we are paying far less than any other community in the area.
My goal with this trash contract was to provide as many services as possible and to keep the cost as low as possible in a time when trash and recycling fees are increasing everywhere in the world. There is a lot of question about the size of the blue barrels. I know some people don't like the new blue barrels. I use the blue barrel. The reason the barrel is the odd shape is is has to do with the requirement to be 35 gallons. If that inside spine that protrudes inward were eliminated, the barrel would be more than 35 gallons; we need to stay 35 gallons. If the barrel were designed to be shorter to eliminate the inner spine, the barrel would be too short to not allow the mechanical arm to pick up the barrel.
Let me explain why our contract's trash barrels are limited to 35 gallons. The city gets a $300,000 grant from the State DEP for having a contract that is 35 gallons. The grant is intended to encourage people to recycle more. That $300,000 is applied to the 14,000 rate payers. That amounts to about $21 off your rate per year. But it is not just $21 less per year we pay; if residents had a larger trash barrel they pay the $21 more plus the added cost of the added trash weight. We all pay less by using these 35 gallon barrels than if we had larger barrels. This is important because there are lot of people in Attleboro who cannot afford to pay more for trash and recycling. If the city were to decide to forego the $300,000 grant and get a larger barrel, our rate would increase well over $300 per year and there are a lot of people who just cannot afford that.
The good news is that if this contract does not fit your needs, you do not need to pay it. You can opt out of the city program and get a new contract with WM or another eligible vendor that meets your specific needs, including getting larger trash barrel. There are about 100 people out of the 14,000 homes in the city who get their own contract and use a bigger trash barrel.
In full disclosure, the down side to opting out of the side contract is that you will lose many services (use of the compost center, paint drop off, hazmat drop off, old tire drop off, one TV per year take away, unlimited metal and electronics take away, amnesty bulk item take away three times per year, and a lot more). Also the cost for you to negotiate your own contract with WM or another eligible vendor will be much greater than what I have negotiated for you with WM. Typically when people opt of the city's contract, they pay $450-$600 per year for a larger barrel. Maybe that works for you, maybe not.
The bottom line is that you have options.
Power Outages - National Grid has a maintenance plan to visit every street in the city and to prune every tree in the city hanging near powerlines at least once every five years. The city's Park & Forestry Department is not allowed to cut tree limbs that are near or over powerlines; that is why I have made sure that National Grid stays on schedule.
Water Main Breaks - In 2017, the city water department contracted Tata & Howard to do an analysis and produce a report that examined our aging water infrastructure. Since then, the City has been implementing that water main replacement plan. Due to limited money we can only do limited number of miles of water mains and the disrupted roadway per year. So far we have done Steere St and two different parts of Read Street. Future plans include Bishop Street, Lindsay Street and more. We are also doing Commonwealth Avenue under the highway, Deanville Road under the highway, Franklin Street, Roy Ave under the river, the lining of Elmwood Ave, Lonsdale Ave and Park Place. To replace all of the city's waterlines all at the same time would cost about $150 million. We obviously cannot do that. So we are implementing the Tata & Howard plan one street at a time.
Community Garden - The City has a community garden open to residents at the intersection of Mechanic St and Hayward St by Willett Elementary School. If people would rather have a garden at home in their yard, one of the benefits of the city's rubbish program is that they may go to the city's compost center to get free clean fill to use at their home.
Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services - in 2018, I revived the Substance Abuse Prevention Commission. Since then they have acted in an advisory capacity to the city. Additionally, I have worked with and supported Manet Health and Column Health to open offices in Attleboro, both of which offer drug treatment, addiction, and mental health services. City officials and I also work with assisting constituents referrals to CCBC, Manet and Column.
Municipal Broadband - When I became mayor in 2018 I reached out to several cable and Internet providers to see if they wanted to come to Attleboro to offer service. None have been interested in expanding a fiber optic network in the city due to the high cost low benefit return. Since 2019, I have been researching and looking at the pros and cons of municipal broadband; this would be a city owned not-for-profit enterprise. ARPA money may be used for this purpose and that is something I have been exploring. Start up costs are in the millions but not insurmountable. There is considerable concern about electromagnetic radiation from 5G so we need to proceed prudently.
Rats - There is no question about it – longer warmer winders are the cause and in the summer 2021 we saw more rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks and RATS because of longer warmer winters. The city has limited legal options to address rats in the city. The city may: 1) remediate rats on city government property, 2) offer homeowners and businesses advice to remediate rats on their property, and 3) order remediation if a home or business is the cause of rats on other people’s property. If we could do more, we would. The city doesn’t have the legal authority to remediate rats on private property. That is the responsibility of the private property owner.
WPZ - In 2019, I asked the city Planner and the city Conservation Agent how to reduce the loss of greenspace in the city. One idea they presented was to expand the Wetland Protection Zone from 25 feet to 75 feet. That said, courts have ruled it is not a land taking, and people would have been able to do the same things they currently do because of the grandfathering and exemptions. Regretabally, there has been nothing but misinformation about this proposal and is not going to pass the city council.
Taxes - Taxes are increasing at a quick rate right now because of the new high school. The good news is that the growth will level off in the next two years, which was by design. The city council goes through thorough deliberations to determine the tax rate in the city. Additionally, I have been asked about a lower tax rate for senior citizens; state law doesn’t allow us to set a lower tax rate for any class of citizens. However, any homeowner can visit the City Hall Assessor’s office to learn about what tax abatement programs they may qualify for.
Your government should be here to work for you regardless of what the issue is. There are a lot of things that the mayor does not have the authority to do. Many of the things that residents would like to see happen are under the authority and jurisdiction of other elected offices in the city. Please always feel free to reach out and ask who can help you with whatever it is that is important to you. If it is important to you, it is important to me.
You
Most importantly, always respond to you and your concerns. I cannot promise that I will solve every concern you have but I’ll always try and if I can’t solve an issue, I’ll explain why. The biggest part of my job is responding to constituent needs. It was when I was a state representative and it is now as mayor. I communicate with residents every day more than any one department. In a city of about 47,000 people, that is to be expected. You can contact me through this website contact page, my Facebook page, or by writing to me or calling me at City Hall.
Education
The school department is not under the jurisdiction of the mayor's management. The school committee and the school superintendent manage the schools. However, the mayor is critical to the needed funding for projects the school department needs. By working closely with the school superintendent, I have closed the gap in city support for education.
Some third term plans for education include:
- Continue to fund the school department well over the minimum state requirement - I have budgeted nearly $10 million over the minimum state requirement in the first 4 years as mayor
- Complete funding the SPED stabilization account at $1M, which the school superintendent and I think will be sufficient
- Finish construction of the new high school on time and on budget
- Install a HVAC system at Willett school using ARPA money
- Replace the gym floors at Hill Roberts and Hyman Fine (this project was started in my second term and will be finished in the third term)
- Expand sidewalk access on Robinson Ave near Coelho school
- Install a traffic light on Thacher Street for Brennan, Studley and the new Attleboro High School
- Continue to fund the school budget with no layoffs
- providing a gunshot detection system to all 9 schools
Public Safety
We are fortunate to have a well trained and professional police force and fire department. The police chief and fire chief have decades of experience in their respective fields. Anything the police chief or the fire chief have ever asked funding for, I have provided the funding for. Working with the police chief and the fire chief, ideas to improve the police and fire departments have been proposed and implemented.
During my time as mayor, I increased the police training budget from $50,000 to $100,000 and then again from $100,000 to $125,000. Before I leave my time as mayor, I plan to fund police training at $150,000, which the police chief and I think will be sufficient. Police training is what gives our police officers the tools they need to navigate unpredictable situations. Training has included but is not limited to: de-escalation tactics, implicit bias awareness, autism awareness, and duty to intervene.
Speeding and traffic related issues are two of the three most common complaints I get as mayor. As such, I funded the creation of a police traffic unit, have installed lighted crosswalks at key crossings in the city and have more on the way, installed speed radars throughout the city with more on the way, created a permanent speed hump ordinance so residents of neighborhoods can petition the city to have speed humps constructed on their residential cut through streets.
I have also stopped the practice of taking out debt to pay for police cruisers when we know we need to purchase three new cruisers each year and retire three. By budgeting for the replacement of cruisers, we no longer take out debt and pay interest on the debt.
When Coronavirus hit, I made sure that police and fire (and all departments) had the personal protective equipment they needed to stay as safe as possible. When COVID-19 wasn't covered by the contract with the police and fire unions, I added it to the contracts. I added HEPA air purifiers to all offices that have two or more people. I followed the state and federal government guidance and requirements and enforced those guidelines to keep city employees, their family and the public safer than they would have otherwise been under a less rigorous enforcement of best practices.
When the fire chief came to me in March 2019 and asked for two new fire gear extractors in the July 1 budget, I did better. I purchased one immediately, and then planned the second for the July 1 budget. The city ended up getting a grant for the second one.
When the fire chief asked me to make sure that every firefighter has two sets of turnout gear, I made sure it was in the budget each year. We are no on a rotation cycle where we budget the older set of gear replaced on a regular basis.
Some third term plans for public safety include:
- Continue to provide every firefighter with 2 sets of turnout gear; new gear is needed annually as old gear needs to be retired
- Improve the sleeping quarters for firefighters at 100 Union Street using ARPA money
- Install a new HVAC units at police and fire using ARPA money
- Continue to increase funding for training, equipment, and mental health and problem orientated policing, which assists with drug and mental health issues
Community
The parks located throughout the city have also seen revitalization during my tenure. Finberg Field, Highland Park, Lee's Pond, Poncin-Hewitt and more have all see significant improvements working with the department heads. Often times the department head will come to me with an idea to make their department better. Other times I ask department heads to come up with plans to improve different aspects of the city. They come back to me with a plan and a funding request. I take that to the city council and the council decides. So far, we have been successfully in advocating for improvements throughout the city. I encourage people to visit the many parks. Some parks and fields have recently seen improvements, some improvements are underway, and other improvements are planned for 2022.
The city only has so much money to work with and spending is a reflection of priorities. One of the things I have prioritized is better equipment for DPW, the Recreation Department and Park & Forestry. When our city employees have the right tools, they can do the job right.
One of the projects I am actively working on is building a performing arts venue at Highland Park. The funding source is identified. Plans are being drafted by a group of performing arts volunteers.
Some third term plans include:
- Continue to work with different student and community groups to make Attleboro cleaner and greener
- Start the 5-10 year process to construct a new Council on Aging
- Construct new sidewalks in heavily travelled areas of the city
- Allocate ARPA money for bills for families hit hard by COVID
- building a performing arts venue
- Continue work on a citywide municipal broadband network
Downtown Revitalization
Downtown is becoming an experience you can't get online or at the mall. Rome was not built in a day and Attleboro won't transform overnight. But the foundation has been placed and projects are underway. Several new businesses have opened in the city center. The redevelopment of old mill buildings is underway.
Attleboro is a small city but a great one. It is a place that people can work, reside and recreate. Since taking office, I have taken several steps to improve the city center and the experience for the rest of the city. The city center is a place a lot of people want to see improvements. My goal has been to increase the number of people living in the downtown by working on the redevelopment of existing land and property. This in turn will increase the amount of foot traffic needed to support new businesses that my administration is bringing to the city. Additionally, by focusing on opening businesses that are unique and provide people with a reason to come to the downtown, Attleboro's city center is making progress not seen in decades.
One of the recent projects is the redevelopment of the alleyway behind the city owned parking garage on Sanford Street. This new alleyway is being name Cuddy Court, after the Cuddy family and their adjacent business. This venue will be used to have festivals, concerts and other outdoor activities.
Some third term plans include:
- Assist 7 buildings being constructed or renovated in the city center. Because of assistance and economic incentives from the city, 4 of these buildings will have mixed income and 3 will be market rate. There are more residential buildings and businesses planned in the city and they will be unveiled as time progresses when the new owners are ready to go public with their plans.
- Commission an Attleboro housing needs assessment - we need to know what we have for housing in the city and what we need
- Continue to provide economic incentives and assistance to businesses recovering from the pandemic shutdown
Other Issues
Some things that are important to you include but are not limited to:
Trash and Recycling - The contract the city has with WM is one of the best and most affordable in the region. It’s pretty much impossible to do an apples to apples comparison from our city to any other surrounding community because the services we receive in our contract, and what we pay is different from municipality to municipality. However for the number of services we receive in Attleboro, we are paying far less than any other community in the area.
My goal with this trash contract was to provide as many services as possible and to keep the cost as low as possible in a time when trash and recycling fees are increasing everywhere in the world. There is a lot of question about the size of the blue barrels. I know some people don't like the new blue barrels. I use the blue barrel. The reason the barrel is the odd shape is is has to do with the requirement to be 35 gallons. If that inside spine that protrudes inward were eliminated, the barrel would be more than 35 gallons; we need to stay 35 gallons. If the barrel were designed to be shorter to eliminate the inner spine, the barrel would be too short to not allow the mechanical arm to pick up the barrel.
Let me explain why our contract's trash barrels are limited to 35 gallons. The city gets a $300,000 grant from the State DEP for having a contract that is 35 gallons. The grant is intended to encourage people to recycle more. That $300,000 is applied to the 14,000 rate payers. That amounts to about $21 off your rate per year. But it is not just $21 less per year we pay; if residents had a larger trash barrel they pay the $21 more plus the added cost of the added trash weight. We all pay less by using these 35 gallon barrels than if we had larger barrels. This is important because there are lot of people in Attleboro who cannot afford to pay more for trash and recycling. If the city were to decide to forego the $300,000 grant and get a larger barrel, our rate would increase well over $300 per year and there are a lot of people who just cannot afford that.
The good news is that if this contract does not fit your needs, you do not need to pay it. You can opt out of the city program and get a new contract with WM or another eligible vendor that meets your specific needs, including getting larger trash barrel. There are about 100 people out of the 14,000 homes in the city who get their own contract and use a bigger trash barrel.
In full disclosure, the down side to opting out of the side contract is that you will lose many services (use of the compost center, paint drop off, hazmat drop off, old tire drop off, one TV per year take away, unlimited metal and electronics take away, amnesty bulk item take away three times per year, and a lot more). Also the cost for you to negotiate your own contract with WM or another eligible vendor will be much greater than what I have negotiated for you with WM. Typically when people opt of the city's contract, they pay $450-$600 per year for a larger barrel. Maybe that works for you, maybe not.
The bottom line is that you have options.
Power Outages - National Grid has a maintenance plan to visit every street in the city and to prune every tree in the city hanging near powerlines at least once every five years. The city's Park & Forestry Department is not allowed to cut tree limbs that are near or over powerlines; that is why I have made sure that National Grid stays on schedule.
Water Main Breaks - In 2017, the city water department contracted Tata & Howard to do an analysis and produce a report that examined our aging water infrastructure. Since then, the City has been implementing that water main replacement plan. Due to limited money we can only do limited number of miles of water mains and the disrupted roadway per year. So far we have done Steere St and two different parts of Read Street. Future plans include Bishop Street, Lindsay Street and more. We are also doing Commonwealth Avenue under the highway, Deanville Road under the highway, Franklin Street, Roy Ave under the river, the lining of Elmwood Ave, Lonsdale Ave and Park Place. To replace all of the city's waterlines all at the same time would cost about $150 million. We obviously cannot do that. So we are implementing the Tata & Howard plan one street at a time.
Community Garden - The City has a community garden open to residents at the intersection of Mechanic St and Hayward St by Willett Elementary School. If people would rather have a garden at home in their yard, one of the benefits of the city's rubbish program is that they may go to the city's compost center to get free clean fill to use at their home.
Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services - in 2018, I revived the Substance Abuse Prevention Commission. Since then they have acted in an advisory capacity to the city. Additionally, I have worked with and supported Manet Health and Column Health to open offices in Attleboro, both of which offer drug treatment, addiction, and mental health services. City officials and I also work with assisting constituents referrals to CCBC, Manet and Column.
Municipal Broadband - When I became mayor in 2018 I reached out to several cable and Internet providers to see if they wanted to come to Attleboro to offer service. None have been interested in expanding a fiber optic network in the city due to the high cost low benefit return. Since 2019, I have been researching and looking at the pros and cons of municipal broadband; this would be a city owned not-for-profit enterprise. ARPA money may be used for this purpose and that is something I have been exploring. Start up costs are in the millions but not insurmountable. There is considerable concern about electromagnetic radiation from 5G so we need to proceed prudently.
Rats - There is no question about it – longer warmer winders are the cause and in the summer 2021 we saw more rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks and RATS because of longer warmer winters. The city has limited legal options to address rats in the city. The city may: 1) remediate rats on city government property, 2) offer homeowners and businesses advice to remediate rats on their property, and 3) order remediation if a home or business is the cause of rats on other people’s property. If we could do more, we would. The city doesn’t have the legal authority to remediate rats on private property. That is the responsibility of the private property owner.
WPZ - In 2019, I asked the city Planner and the city Conservation Agent how to reduce the loss of greenspace in the city. One idea they presented was to expand the Wetland Protection Zone from 25 feet to 75 feet. That said, courts have ruled it is not a land taking, and people would have been able to do the same things they currently do because of the grandfathering and exemptions. Regretabally, there has been nothing but misinformation about this proposal and is not going to pass the city council.
Taxes - Taxes are increasing at a quick rate right now because of the new high school. The good news is that the growth will level off in the next two years, which was by design. The city council goes through thorough deliberations to determine the tax rate in the city. Additionally, I have been asked about a lower tax rate for senior citizens; state law doesn’t allow us to set a lower tax rate for any class of citizens. However, any homeowner can visit the City Hall Assessor’s office to learn about what tax abatement programs they may qualify for.
Your government should be here to work for you regardless of what the issue is. There are a lot of things that the mayor does not have the authority to do. Many of the things that residents would like to see happen are under the authority and jurisdiction of other elected offices in the city. Please always feel free to reach out and ask who can help you with whatever it is that is important to you. If it is important to you, it is important to me.
