Marlborough police detective Patrick Hogan running for mayor

MARLBOROUGH — Patrick Hogan, a longtime member of the city Police Department, has declared his intention to run for mayor, becoming the third candidate hoping to replace the retiring Arthur Vigeant.

Hogan, a detective, is a lifelong Marlborough resident. He said he is retiring from the police force next January, which he said lines up perfectly for him to run for mayor.

He previously ran for mayor in 2007, losing to incumbent Nancy Stevens.

“I’ve always thought I would probably run again when I retired, and since I’m retiring in January the timing is perfect,” Hogan said. “I’ve been in public service my entire life — I’m retiring but I don’t want to stop my career in public service. I think with Arthur Vigeant stepping down, the city needs someone to maintain his legacy of fiscal responsibility.”

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Hogan said he would not be seeking to become mayor this year if Vigeant had chosen to run again — Hogan believes the six-term mayor has done a great job. But with Vigeant retiring, Hogan said his experience in public service, including many years as president of the Marlborough Police Patrol Officers Association, gives him an advantage over other declared candidates.

“I don’t really want to see someone with no life experience come and try and take us down a different path — I want to put us on the path that Arthur Vigeant has put us on,” Hogan said.

Other declared candidates for mayor are City Councilors J. Christian Dumais and Samantha Pearlman. Another potential candidate, Michael A. Baker, of Gibbon Street, has pulled papers but has yet to formally declare.

Hogan seeks responsible growth, more funds for public safety

Hogan’s policy goals include advocating for responsible growth and development downtown; making improvements to local infrastructure and roads; and better funding for public safety. Hogan, who started as a police dispatcher in 1990 and became a patrolman in 1996, said both the Police and Fire departments are understaffed and losing employees to other cities.

“The biggest issue facing both the Police and Fire departments is staffing — it’s hard to hire people, nobody wants to do these jobs anymore,” Hogan said. “If we can staff both departments, then we can do the jobs that we are here for. Right now, we are very reactionary. Our traffic guys are in patrol because we don’t have the staffing.”

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Hogan mentioned that since 2012, the Police Department has changed how it funds its education incentive through the Quinn Bill, a state-funded program that pays officers who pursue degrees in law enforcement and criminal justice. Other communities have reverted back to the old (and more generous) funding mechanism, which has led to Marlborough officers leaving to earn money in neighboring communities.

“It’s a different version of that now,” Hogan said. “Anybody that has come post-2012 gets a stipend that is significantly less money. Framingham, Southborough and Hudson have all reinstated the funding, and we are seeing officers leave because they can get a 20% raise just by walking through the door.”

Hogan says Marlborough ‘is playing catch-up’ to other downtowns

Hogan wants to create a more family-focused downtown that is less reliant on apartment construction, which he said is difficult for the city to produce without also accounting for substantial public transportation.

“We are playing catch-up to towns like Hudson, who have gotten things right,” Hogan said. “I’d like to see ice cream shops, doughnut shops, things that get families downtown, (so) I’m not sure apartment buildings are the answer. Obviously, we need affordable housing downtown, but until we get mass transit, like Marlborough needs a train stop, we will need the parking to support it all and it’s hard to do that.”

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Hogan added that he has strong relationships within the immigrant community, noting he speaks some Portuguese and has traveled to Brazil extensively throughout his life.

“I bring a unique perspective to the immigrant population, I speak a little bit of Portuguese, I’ve been to Brazil over a dozen times,” he said. “If you looked 15 years ago when I ran, we didn’t have any Brazilians working for the city. Now we have a lot of them, they are everywhere and they are part of the community and we embrace them.”

Candidates have until Aug. 18 to turn in the required number of signatures for each office that will be on the ballot.

Voters will go to the polls in November — and possibly in October if preliminary elections are necessary — to elect a new mayor, 11 city councilors, four School Committee members and an Assabet Valley Regional Technical School Committee member.