Politics & Government

Mayor Kevin Dumas Proud to Ask for Fifth Term as Attleboro's Chief Executive

Mayor Kevin Dumas discusses his challenges and accomplishments as mayor.

This is the fifth campaign for Attleboro Mayor Kevin Dumas, who has declared his intention to run again in the mayoral race. Dumas will compete for votes against , who retired last year after three decades with the Attleboro Fire Department.

The race between Dumas and Churchill has created a lot of buzz by residents in Attleboro coffee shops, schools and sporting events. What has everyone talking?

The differences between the two candidates. Churchill is more traditional, old-school and wants to get back to the basics, while Dumas chips away at his vision of a city with a revitalized downtown and enriched arts community. 

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“I can stand on a proud record of accomplishments with my administration and am very thankful to have served the city for eight years now and I’m also proud to ask for another opportunity for a fifth term,” Dumas said from his second-floor corner office at 

"The old Attleboro years and years ago would have never called for redevelopment of the downtown," Dumas said. "This city 15 to 20 years ago would never have elected someone who is 27."

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The change in the city came because there was a shift in what people wanted and expected, Dumas said. 

First Term

There are a few things the mayor is most proud of, including how he, 27 at the time, handled his first six months as mayor. Elected in November 2003, Dumas was hit with a major challenge – making sense of a massive budgetary error. The $1 million error was discovered by the then outgoing-Mayor Judy Robbins. The liabilities facing the city at that same time that needed to be resolved was in the sum of $2.2 million. 

The error depleted the city’s reserve funds to $200,000 and the city ended the year with $7,777 in the bank, according to Dumas. 

“Talk about ending the year positive – that was a Herculean effort,” he said. “I wasn’t home very much for a long time and it was the most difficult time.”

Fast forward eight years later and the city is operating in a more difficult economy.

“Now in the worst of economic conditions we have not lost staff, have not lost services and [other municipalities] have lost hundreds of staff and cut back services,” Dumas said. “You will continue to see things like that happen to other municipalities and that is not happening here in Attleboro and is a direct benefit to the city and those who live here.

“We are this shining gem," he said.

Dumas keeps it shining, he said, by identifying the city’s needs and focusing on future planning. He added that, for the first time in years, the city has been able to chomp away at projects that have sat on the books for years .

Examples of how the city has taken a multi-tiered approach to infusing different dollar amounts through capital improvements are in the efforts to get parks and fields up and running, buildings rehabbed and by replacing an aging fleet of vehicles across all city departments. 

Critics

Critics, however, including his opponent, question the city’s use of water and sewage, its handling of the infrastructure and whether the water rates are used as the city’s “cash cow.” Residents of Attleboro currently pay $4.13 per 100 cubic feet of water and $8.65 per cubic feet for wastewater. 

“We have not ignored the water infrastructure,” Dumas said. “Since I have been mayor we redid both of the standpipes on Ides Hill and have plans for the rehabilitation of the one on Oakhill. We also did cleaning and realigning of South Main Street. It’s like a brand new main from downtown to Tiffany Street.”

The water and sewer rate is balanced out by the needs of the water department ad wastewater department, according to Dumas. 

"The cost of staff, the operation and any debt is held by the rate," Dumas said. “It is my job as chief executive to have my hand in and understand all transactions over the city all of the time.”

The operation of the two enterprises is very "cyclical," according to Dumas, because if there are not enough funds to cover the needs of the water and wastewater departments, the funds need to come from general government.

Critics have also questioned a salary increase for the incoming mayor.

Some city councilors and local residents have questioned whether the timing is right to increase the mayor's salary. Churchill has said it is not a matter of whether Dumas or any other mayor deserves the increase, it's whether it is appropriate to increase the salary while the city is suffering financially. If elected, , he will not accept the increase. 

"He is getting an $87,000 retirement from the city of Attleboro already so that would only be the right thing for him to do," Dumas said. "As I'm building the city's budget I’m not putting the increase in the fical (2012) budget.

"If I am the person that is re-elected that is not something I am looking to do because I recognize that fiscal 2012 is going to be an enormous challenge."

Challenges

Mayor Dumas has faced and continues to face his share of challenges.

His biggest challenge is running a city in down economy. Going into fiscal year 2012 the city is reducing spending because the State is cutting aid to the city by 7 percent, he said. It has been a challenge to cut spending while not cutting services or staff, especially with the snow removal expense expected to reach $1.5 million – the highest he has ever seen since being mayor.

The mayor has dealt with the financial challenges by working with his administration to find ways to cut costs including the creation of a template to print the city’s own letterhead or by using the late s idea of getting rebates back from the electric company when the plants in the city use generators instead of the power grid. Another example is the use of a grant to change the traffic lights in the city to light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which, in the long term, will save the city money. 

“It’s all how can you do more with less,” he said. “The people have vested in me to be caretaker of their money, and the people of Attleboro are very conscious of what you do with their money."

Accomplishments

There are several accomplishments Dumas is proud of, including rehabbing the near-century-old post office (now the Bristol County Registry of Deeds) and bringing an express Registry of Motor Vehicles branch into the building, completing Phase One of the downtown revitalization and keeping Briggs Corner Station open.

When he took office in 2003, Dumas promised constituents he would never close Briggs Station.

Not only has he kept good on his promise, but Dumas said he brought additional ambulatory service to the city's which will begin in the next couple of weeks. 

Other accomplishments Dumas is proud of include Attleboro being recognized as an up and coming place to live and being named second-runner-up to Bloomberg/Businessweek.com's s. 

“In the face of adversity look at what we are still doing and that speaks volumes,” Dumas said. “I never settle for less.”


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