Week in Review: Fire on Fulton Place, Selectmen Reorganize, and New Trees on Route 106

Eight Displaced After Fulton Place Fire

Early Friday morning, Mansfield fire and local departments providing mutual aid assisted with extinguishing a fire located in a set of apartments on 15 Fulton Place. 

According to scanner reports and Mansfield fire, flames started to appear from one of the buildings a little before 2 a.m. The fire was located in the second story of the wooded frame building with three units.

Crews from Mansfield, Norton, Attleboro, Sharon, Foxborough, and North Attleboro responded to the fire, taking about a half-hour to get the flames under control.

While there were no injuries, eight pepole were displaced due to the fire.

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Keep Mansfield Beautiful Provides New Trees on Route 106

In an effort to make the area of Route 106 near the Winthrop Street parking lot  more attractive, nine trees were planted today as part of Keep Mansfield Beautiful's efforts to bring more color to the area.

Of the nine crabapple trees planted, four were donated to the town by Guerrini Landscape while Keep Mansfield Beautiful covered the costs of the other five.

Guerrini Landscape also donated the time and labor needed to plant the trees.

The trees are part of the "Don’t Just Stand There, Plant Something!” campaign to help towns across Massachusetts understanding the joys and benifits of planting.

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Selectmen Vote to Give Town Manager a Raise

After getting good marks from the selectmen, Town Manager William Ross will receive a slight bump in pay.

As stated in the contract of most town employees, Ross will receive a 2% increase in his base salary. Currently, Ross makes $142,000 along with a yearly Mansfield Electric Stipend of $10,000. Ross' electric department stipend and vehicle allowance of $5,000 will not change

 Selectman George Dentino called it one of the smallest raises for a town manager he could recall.

While the selectmen wished to give Ross a higher raise, they felt that it was best to have Ross receive the same pay increase as everyone else who works for the town.

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Jess Apowitz was named the new chairman of the Mansfield Board of Selectmen during their annual reorganization at their May 15 meeting.

Apowitz returns to the position after serving as the board's chair during 2011-12.

Kevin Moran nominated Apowitz for the position and was voted in 4-0-1 with George Dentino abstaining.

Doug Annino was named the vice-chair with a 3-0-2 vote. Annino and Dentino abstained from the vote.

Returning to his former position, Kevin Moran will be the clerk for his final year as a selectman after a 5-0 vote.

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Mansfield’s SAT Scores Rank in Top 10 Percent of Region

With a combined SAT score of 1596, Mansfield ranks just inside the top 10 percent of 48 schools South of Boston, according to data released by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education published by the Boston Globe.

Mansfield ranked 10th out of the 48 schools, just one point head of Foxborough (1595) for a spot in the top 10. Sharon ranked first among the 48 schools with a score of 1775 while Brockton ranked last with a score of 1289.

Other combined scores of neighboring towns include: Walpole (1590), Easton (1601), Norton (1530) and Norwood (1464).

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Mansfield Officially Opens Albertini Water Treatment Plant on West St.

Two years ago, Mansfield broke ground for the Albertini Water Treatment Facility, and has now officially finished the project.

Town manager William Ross said the plant, along with the Cate Springs and Walsh Plants, were designed to improve the water quality and remove any unwanted minerals/toxins from the system.

“We wanted to reduce any of the manganese and improve water quality,” Ross said. “It’s a good well field for the town, I think 20 to 30 percent of our capacity is in this wellfield and so we need it to improve the water quality coming out of here and ensure the chlorination was right.”

Ross added the well will provide this service to the town for the next 20 to 30 years.

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