Mansfield Finance Committee Again Incomplete

The Mansfield Finance Committee, appointed to full-strength in late August, is now again short one member.

James Regazzo was one of the , and because of certain conflicts, he wrote in a letter to the board of selectmen on Wednesday, he will not be able to accept the position.

He also stated that he is resigning from the planning board, opening up a full position later in the year. Regazzo won by one vote from the board of selectmen in August.

The only other applicant for the last seat on the board was Yogen Chemburkar, who told selectmen earlier that, if another position opened up, he would be interested in taking the seat.

“It was indicated to me if there was a future opportunity that he was still interested,” town manager William Ross said.

During that original interview in August, Chemburkar was asked about his feelings on how to deal with the Mansfield budget, which caused much controversy this year . According to six , was the reason for their subsequent resignations and the newly-open seats.

“We need a stable tax base,” Chemburkar said. “If we don’t plan for the future our tax base could wither… But you’re not going to come up with magic answers right off the bat, you need to have a plan in place that grows over time.”

A budget override has been a looming factor in the budget debate since the troubles of 2008, and this past town meeting was no exception. Chemburkar said it would be a tough call, but he is not closed to the idea.

“An override is always a last choice,” he said. “There are always options in balancing the budget. There are always tradeoffs; it might be a hard tradeoff, but it’s something to consider.”

Chemburkar said he has worked with Sensate Technologies as the global operations planning manager. He has been with the company for more than 20 years, and moved to Mansfield in 1988, and giving back to the town was his main reason for throwing his hat in the ring.

“It’s been a great run living here,” he said. “Our kids have gone to school in the area. We’ve lived a very good quality life in Mansfield and I’d like to contribute to the quality of life [of others] in that way.”