Candidates for Ward Seats Speak Out Before Tuesday Election [POLL]

Listed on Tuesday’s election ballot will be candidates for . Candidates for four Ward seats are running unopposed: Joseph Delano (Ward One), Robert Tunnera (Ward Four), Robert Seymour (Ward Five), and Edward Clancy (Ward Six).

Richard Jenkins is challenging incumbent Paul Ferro for Ward Two seat.

Ferro is seeking his fifth term and noted “In the last two years, I saved the average Marlborough residential taxpayer cumulatively $308 in taxes and fought for funding for road work, showing I’m a Councilor who delivers for his Ward.”

Ferro claims that he plans to work toward retaining businesses and attracting new ones, and thus jobs, by using his experience as a member of the Mayor’s TIF Committee working with job creators to invest in Marlborough. “I want to make this community that has been so good to my family for over 100 years a great place to live and work for every family,” said Ferro.

Jenkins stated that his previous experience holding an elected position on the Greenfield Town Council and overseeing more than 2,200 stores as waste management coordinator for TJX make him qualified for the position. “I want to bring back some far, far right beliefs. The current council needs to rain in all these cuts, especially the fire and police departments, which we need to keep fully staffed and funded and not take fire trucks off the road and close stations,” said Jenkins.

Jenkins claims that if elected, he will work on getting the senior center project underway to meet the needs of the seniors, and will meet with each department to understand what they need on a day to day basis and how cuts would effect each department because in order to “manage a department and budget, we have to understand what they do and how they spend their money,” noted Jenkins.

George Stein is challenging incumbent Matthew Elder for Ward Three seat.

Elder is seeking his second term as Ward Three Councilor. “During the previous term, I fought to ensure that a bunch of developments in the Ward were done responsibly and made sure residents’ voices were heard. I dropped thousands of pieces of information to residents, doing an unprecedented job of keeping residents informed.”

If reelected, Elder claims he will “strategically look at the issues coming forward. We have about $100 million in capital projects to be funded. I will take a long term approach and develop a strategy to make sure things get done.”  

Stein stated he is seeking office because “we deserve representation that produces results that actually make a difference to our city. Results are not produced by mere words, but are a byproduct of a disciplined approach to problem solving.” He further explained his project management skills gained through 27 years as an engineer will be beneficial for the Council.

If elected, Stein claims his top priorities will be for City Council and the Mayor’s office to work together to finalize plans for the senior center, “address the pending water and sewer rate increase, develop a long term road repair plan and complete the fire department’s staffing requirements.”

Todd Beauchemin is challenging incumbent Donald Landers for Ward Seven seat.

Beauchemin claims his focus if elected will be on infrastructure (roads, water and sewer) and to help ensure property taxes remain low and affordable, and that attracting new businesses to Marlborough will spread out the tax base.

"I want to provide government transparency so that residents know the government is working for them and their roads will be fixed, and my customer, managerial, and budget skills make me qualified for the position. I want to make sure that the city and infrastructure take care of the residents," said Beauchemin.

Landers is seeking his third term as Ward Seven Councilor. Regarding his previous term, Landers stated he was very supportive of the department heads (public works, fire and police) and working toward a budget to provide them with the necessary manpower and equipment.

"If you really want to know how residents feel, work alongside them for a few hours. That's when you find out their concerns, which is different than when you go knocking door to door," said Landers. He claims the key to getting more revenue is not by increasing taxes, but by attracting more businesses in order to build a healthy community again. "I want Marlborough to be ready to compete with other towns to attract businesses to our community," Landers noted.

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