The candidates for Barrington Town Council — Democrats Kerry O’Neill, Jordan Jancosek and Liana Cassar, and Independents Bryan Hoffman, Derick Daley and Brian Hughes — filled the second time slot during a series of forums on Monday night, Sept. 30.

The group tackled issues including the potential future uses of the Hampden Meadows School property, how to deal with one of the largest tax increases in the town’s history, whether they support the synthetic turf field projects, affordable housing, and what they would like to see happen with the 39-acre Belton Court property.

The six candidates for Town Council showed some separation when asked what they would do to minimize the impact on residents when it comes to one of the largest tax increases in the history of Barrington.  

Daley said limiting the “scope creep” of the school construction project would be key. He said officials need to be fiscally responsible and have to be willing to say “no” to some things. 

Hughes said Barrington needs to address its lack of a commercial tax base. Hughes said an increased commercial tax base — possibly a more robust business district downtown — would take some of the fiscal pressure off of residential tax bills. 

Jancosek and O’Neill said they did not have great answers or a clear cut direction. O’Neill said the town needs to find ways to generate more revenue, possibly exploring trash pickup for businesses. Jancosek said balancing the budget would not be easy work and would take collaboration. 

Cassar spoke about the need for smart-spending and strategic planning. She also said people need to face the reality that costs have not dropped in a long time. 

There was plenty of agreement, in general, on the need for affordable housing in Barrington. Hoffman said the Belton Court property could address some of the housing challenges in town. Cassar said officials needed to explore the existing housing stock to address the need for more affordable housing. Hughes said the older residents are being forced out of Barrington — he said most older residents want to stay in the homes where they raised their families. He again pointed to the need to increase the commercial tax base to reduce the burden on residential taxes. 

Jancosek said she spoke with seniors in town and found that about half of them want to stay in their homes and the other half want to downsize. She also said she wants to find a way to prioritize municipal employees and seniors when it comes to availability of affordable housing. 

When asked if they were in favor of mandating that department heads followed climate change-friendly practices, some of the candidates differed. All three Democrats supported mandates, while all three Independents pushed back.

Daley did not support that measure. He said there were things officials could do, but a mandate would frustrate people. Jancosek said she did support a mandate. She also said that there was plenty of grant money available to help with the initiatives. Hoffman said he was not sure if a mandate was needed. He said there are a lot of great boards and commissions that are already looking for ways to address the issue. Cassar said officials need to reverse a long history of negatively impacting the environment. O’Neill said the government has continually said no to some of the needed changes. He said the only way forward is to mandate them.

The candidates also differed on the synthetic turf field projects. Cassar and O’Neill did not support the turf while Hughes did. Hoffman, Daley and Jancosek chose not to weigh in on the issue. 

When asked to weigh in on anything that had not yet been discussed, Cassar spoke about the flagpole issue; Hoffman discussed local schools; Jancosek talked about collaborating with the school committee; Daley referenced the need to repair the town’s relationship with local veterans; O’Neill endorsed the new resilience garden and spoke about incentivizing environmentally-friendly initiatives; and Hughes said he would explore monetizing the East Bay Bike Path area and potential zoning changes.