Our View: Congratulations to Mayor Paul Heroux | Opinion | thesunchronicle.com - The Sun Chronicle

Congratulations are in order for the Attleboro election.

We applaud Paul Heroux for winning a third two-year term as mayor, capturing nearly two-thirds of the vote.

At the age of 45, he has been elected state representative three times while repeating the feat to serve as the city’s chief executive. Attleboro voters obviously have a lot of faith in him as his smallest margin of victory was 54% to 46% in ousting popular incumbent Kevin Dumas for mayor in 2017.

Heroux has earned their trust. A state-of-the-art Attleboro High School is under construction, dwarfing the existing school. Work has begun in bringing life back into the aging factory buildings along Union Street in the city’s downtown. The city has produced budget surpluses the last two years. And, as we have stated before, he will undoubtedly go down as the most environmentally conscious mayor in Attleboro’s history, enacting bans on everything from plastic bags at stores to the voluntary release of balloons.

Heroux has also brought a level of energy seldom seen before in the mayor’s office.

We have little doubt that he will maintain that enthusiasm in what he says — and we believe — will be his final term.

We’d like to see him focus his energy on other parts of downtown revitalization. While he has maintained there are little to no vacancies downtown, many buildings are overdue for an upgrade.

We’d also like to see more progress on the arts center planned for the former Highland Country Club. Taxpayers will want to see a return for the investment made there, at least in terms of city resources.

Congratulations are also in order for Heroux’s challenger, Todd McGhee.

The security expert and former state trooper brought intelligence and a fresh perspective in his first time on the campaign trail.

The campaign was a sharp contrast in civility from two years ago when the mayor was challenged by City Councilor Heather Porreca, a contest that resulted in the slinging of sophomoric barbs.

We urge the mayor to heed McGhee’s campaign call to focus more on affordable housing and on neighborhood issues like the rat infestation that has hit areas of the city.

Our congratulations also go out to the new city clerk, Kate Jackson, newly elected ward councilors Kelly Bennett and Michael Angelo and re-elected at-large councilors Ty Waterman, Jay Dilisio, Cathleen DeSimone, Richard Conti and Peter Blais.

We wish we could offer the same congratulations to the voters of Attleboro, but when 78% elect to stay away from the polls on a beautiful autumn day, it’s disappointing to say the least. City voters get only one chance to have a say in their community every 730 days, but 24,603 citizens threw away that opportunity on Tuesday.

Voter apathy toward municipal government and how their tax dollars are spent on educating their children and keeping their roads and well-being safe has never been greater, not just in Attleboro but across America. It’s a problem that needs to be address before we reach the middle of the 21st century.

Attleboro voters will have an opportunity to redeem themselves two years from now when there will be an open contest for mayor.

We look forward to a strong ending to Paul Heroux’s tenure in office and the upcoming race for mayor in two years.

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Our View: Congratulations to Mayor Paul Heroux | Opinion | thesunchronicle.com - The Sun Chronicle
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