MARLBOROUGH – Marlborough Mayor Arthur Vigeant and some city councilors disagreed over a transfer of funds to be used to pay for construction of Marlborough’s proposed new West Side Fire Station at a council meeting on Monday.
The argument was primarily about the transfer of just under $1.5 million to a stabilization account that councilors said they had already directed the mayor to make.
“I still have not heard the answer why you will not transfer monies that this council worked hard in a special permit to do,” City Council President Michael Ossing said to Vigeant at one point.
“The problem is, you’re standing on some principles and neither you nor Councilor [Kathleen] Robey are understanding the transfer process,” Vigeant responded. “It’s as simple as that.”
This money being discussed came from a mitigation payment that was part of a 2019 special permit decision involving a residential development in Marlborough.
Councilors said that the permit called for the City Council to eventually designate where to send the $1.5 million. Councilors made that designation late last year, marking the money for use in the construction of the new fire station.
Councilors said Vigeant had not followed the allocation.
Vigeant noted that the special permit does not state the funds will go to the fire station, and he emphasized that it is necessary to buy the land for the fire station before building it.
Vigeant said that he wanted to “skip a step” by transferring funds directly to an account to purchase the property for the fire station rather than first sending it to another stabilization account.
Ossing said Vigeant had no valid reason not to honor the conditions of a special permit, though, “other than [to] be vindictive and be obstructionist and create a challenging work environment between the Mayor’s Office and City Council.”
Vigeant said that he was “done,” following this exchange on Monday, walking out of the meeting as Ossing told other councilors to ask themselves whether Vigeant’s behavior is “becoming of a mayor.”
“In my twenty-three years on this council, I have never come across a mayor that does not support the requests the council has had to submit monies from a special permit,” Ossing said. “That’s Mayor [William] Mauro, Mayor [Dennis] Hunt, Mayor [Nancy] Stevens, until now – Mayor Vigeant.”
Council discusses next steps
Earlier in the meeting, Ossing repeatedly asked Vigeant whether $600,000 of the total $1,422,500 amount, which is currently in the city’s Undesignated Fund, would go to the West Side Fire Station Stabilization Account.
Vigeant said that it would depend on whether the transfer went through with full support from the City Council or not, which Ossing said was an unclear answer.
“Councilor, you’re not getting it,” Vigeant said to him. “We’re not going to communicate on this, we’ve had discussions about it, you can beat it some more, but you’re not going to get a different answer. So, you can keep asking the same question, but I’m done answering questions.”
Ossing told Vigeant that his answer was unreasonable, saying that Vigeant is not doing what he was requested to do.
“Every city councilor sitting here today really needs to take a deep hard look,” Ossing said. “If we’re going to put items in the special permit, and the mayor is basically going to snub his nose at what we want, think hard about future special permits.”
Councilors responded following this exchange, with Councilor Christian Dumais saying councilors need to stand for what is right based on principles.
Dumais encouraged councilors to talk to their constituents and put pressure on Vigeant to transfer the remaining funds.
Ossing said that he would continue to work with Vigeant, working to do everything he could to convince the mayor to transfer the money.
“That’s not the intent to be obstructionist or anything,” Ossing said. “We want to move the city forward.”
Fire station project has prompted debate
Marlborough city officials have long discussed the construction of a new fire station, with fire officials arguing that this new station is necessary due, in part, to rapid growth on the west side of Marlborough, which includes areas like the APEX Center.
Discussion has focused on a proposed site for this fire station at the corner of Elm Street and Bigelow Street, where the City Council previously voted to acquire an initial parcel of land last year.
Vigeant then requested that the City Council authorize the purchase of an additional parcel at 100 Locke Drive back in September.
While Vigeant, fire department leadership and some city councilors have backed the fire station project, others on the council and in the neighborhood around Elm and Bigelow streets have raised concerns, noting worries about noise and traffic disruptions, among other things.
Through an attorney, the owners of 100 Locke Drive have also objected to the process, opposing what they said was a move to buy the site through eminent domain in a letter read to the City Council in September.
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