 |
| Attleboro Mayor Kevin Dumas (Staff file photo by Martin Gavin)
|
ATTLEBORO -
Mayor Kevin Dumas described the city hall under his administration as "the people's city hall" and as an open, welcoming place.
The comments came after retired Fire Chief and mayoral candidate Ronald Churchill called city hall an "exclusive club" during the announcement Monday of his campaign to unseat Dumas.
"I don't know where he's coming from with that," the mayor said in an interview. "City hall is the people's city hall. It's welcoming, it's friendly and we provide quality services to the people."
Dumas said he and his office constantly answer constituent inquiries and requests and that he attends many community functions to get a better understanding of community concerns.
"We respond to people's issues all year long," he said. Meanwhile Dumas, 35, and in his fourth term, took issue with a second Churchill jab over a pay increase for the mayor's office scheduled to go into effect next year.
Churchill said he won't take the increase and only half the current mayoral pay.
But a story published in March quoted Dumas as saying he would not implement the pay increase next year because of hard financial times, and he repeated that statement Monday.
"That's not even part of the fiscal 2012 budget, recognizing that we are in hard fiscal times," Dumas said.
And Dumas took a jab at Churchill, pointing out that his city pension, about $87,000, is more than the current mayoral salary of $85,000.
Combined with half the mayor's salary, Churchill's annual pay - if elected - would amount to about $129,500, Dumas said. Retirement chairman Gary Sagar said current law would allow Churchill to continue to collect the pension and mayor's pay.
Churchill said his campaign was motivated by a "patriotic" desire to continue service to his community and make it better. Dumas echoed those comments.
"I love this city. I have an undying passion for the city of Attleboro and I'm striving for Attleboro to be the best community in the commonwealth," he said.
Fiscal stability is the key to making that happen, and Dumas said the city has it - despite hard times.
The mayor said he plans to submit a budget next month with no loss of services or workers.
"There are not too many communities in the commonwealth that can say that," Dumas said.
The mayor said he's looking forward to the campaign.
"I wish him luck in his campaign," Dumas said. "I think it's healthy to have competition, and I look forward to debating him on the issues as we go forward in this campaign season."
|