Streetlights Possibly on the Table for Mansfield's Town Meeting

The Mansfield Board of Selectmen put a placeholder in the annual town meeting agenda to allow citizens to vote on the current lighting issues in the town.

Three years ago, Mansfield decided to shut down more than a third of the town's street lights in order to save money.

"The overwhelming message I seem to get from citizens is to turn them on," Selectmen chair Jess Aptowitz said. "I'd like to do something about it but today right now [ in the budget] our hands are tied."

Complaints were stated to the board and light commissioners over the past year, which were directed to the Mansfield Light Department. The Light Department then searched the town for burnt out lightbulbs. 

According to selectmen on Wednesday, the light department found that, over the past three years, two thirds of the lights were found to be burnt out over the past three years.

"I think as a board that the only real way to deal with this situation is to put it on an article on the annual town meeting and put it in front of the people," Selectman George Dentino said.

Town manager William Ross said that currently, and until July 1, there is not not enough money in the budget to turn the lights back on.

Selectmen agreed to put a placeholder on the annual town meeting agenda.