LETTER: Mansfield Residents Urged To Attend Town Meeting, Vote

A Patch Letter To The Community From Mansfield Select Board Member Steve Schoonveld:

MANSFIELD, MA — It is once again town meeting and election season in Mansfield, a delayed version. I strongly encourage each resident to participate as we safely assemble as a town meeting body at 5 p.m. on June 23 at the Xfinity Center and to vote either by absentee ballot or in person at Mansfield High School on June 30 between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.

While there are some areas where Mansfield has a good thing going, we are not firing on all cylinders and the Select Board could be and should be doing more to give us ALL a stronger future:

• Mansfield is becoming unaffordable for many residents, especially for our growing senior population. We had a residential tax increase of over 5% this year and that is after we increased the tax burden on our businesses.
• Neighboring towns are seeing new investments and business values increasing while our pre-pandemic growth and business values are at a 10-year low. In order to ease the tax burden on residents, which has increased 40% in the past 10 years, we should be actively bringing in new business and investment to fund our increasing Town and School needs.
• Strategies for our downtown and train station, for our parks and recreation areas, for growing and supporting our businesses, for preserving our history and open space and even for something as simple as parking, are non-existent. The Planning Board has led the development of a new Master Plan, but this requires a deep collaborative minded Select Board to actively implement and to not simply wait for things to happen.

Mansfield has come a long way since those days when budgets were the source of infighting and where the focus appeared to be on self instead of service to the community. We have extremely strong teams with staff and leaders who are focused on what is best for our town. What is missing is the accountability of our leaders to develop and deliver these strategies so that Mansfield does not fall behind, and we can realize our opportunities. What is missing is a clear direction and a clear strategy set by the Board to implement so that we can make the most of our town and collaboratively work together for every resident and every opportunity. We should be doing more!

When I revisit my own campaign promises of four years ago, I see the accomplishment of an on-budget Public Safety/DPW complex, an increase in the Senior Tax Relief program, and then not much else. You do not need to attend every Select Board meeting to see that I have patiently and collaboratively tried to tackle the items listed above year after year after year. In this regard we have failed you and, like you, my patience is wearing thin.

I believe we must be doing more to improve our quality of life, improve our parks and recreation opportunities, expand our tax base, decrease the tax burden on both you and our businesses and improve our communications with you the voters who indeed run this town. Please attend town meeting on June 23 and participate in the June 30th election so that we can get a much much better thing going here in Mansfield!