It's Just Not Always About You, Mr. Mayor...
Being mayor of a city is a tough job. It requires intelligence, strong character, political savvy, and a great deal of perspective. It also involves often having to deal with people who — to put it mildly — might be something short of supportive.
Being mayor of a city is a tough job. It requires intelligence, strong character, political savvy, and a great deal of perspective. It also involves often having to deal with people who — to put it mildly — might be something short of supportive.
Attleboro Mayor Paul Heroux has demonstrated all these attributes during his time in office. But if there is one thing he needs to work on, it’s that last one — perspective.
Heroux has had his share of tiffs with local politicians and activists, as every mayor inevitably does. While his record of accomplishment is considerable, his handling of criticism and opposition has been poor. The most recent example was his spat with former city councilor Roxanne Houghton.
Houghton supported the mayor in the past, but lately has been severely critical. She went public about an apparent inadvertent violation of state pesticide laws. She complained about other city services and demanded the mayor take action. She filed a public document request seeking some of Heroux’s emails.
The mayor says she has been abusive towards him and other officials. In response, Heroux threatened to ban her from attending meetings of his recently-formed Highland Country Club task force. In an email Houghton made public, Heroux wrote:
“I’m warning you right now that if you show up at any of my future use meetings I will have the police remove you immediately…”
Heroux eventually reversed himself, saying he had misinterpreted a conversation with the city solicitor. He points out he could keep the public out of task force meetings completely. However, he admits he cannot selectively exclude individuals. He explained that to Houghton and apologized.
While Heroux now understands he cannot selectively ban certain people from public meetings, it is important to note he says he would have, if he could have. Sorry, but threatening to have someone removed by police just for showing up at a meeting is unacceptable behavior from the head of any local government.
As a town moderator, I have had to threaten to remove people from a public meeting for their behavior. But never just for being there. That would be wrong.
Mayor Heroux bristles at any suggestion he is politically sensitive, or “thin skinned”. However, his statements and actions indicate some merit to that suggestion. Handling criticism and opposition — reasonable and unreasonable, fair and unfair — is a huge part of the job, one Heroux has performed poorly during his time in office.
He states some councilors are working with Houghton in a manner that “selfishly” takes away time that he should be spending on city business. However, sometimes people just disagree. It is not always personal, or a political plot.
Heroux points out there are 43,000 people in Attleboro, and says those who waste his time hurt them and the city.
Leading a city government is not easy. No official should be the target of actual abuse. If Houghton or anyone has done that, they should be reported to authorities.
But when it comes to reasonableness and perspective, the standard for a mayor has to be higher. Mayor Heroux needs to improve in those areas, and understand it is simply not always about him.
Bill Gouveia is a local columnist and longtime local official. He can be emailed at billsinsidelook@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @Billinsidelook.
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