With eighteen candidates running for nine spots on the Taunton City Council, voters will have plenty of options in this year’s Nov. 4 city election. And with four current city councilors not running for reelection, next year’s city council is guaranteed to have new faces.
To help voters learn more about the candidates, the Gazette sent the same questions to each candidate running for office. We limited all responses to 150 words or less, and we asked questions about the candidates’ backgrounds and about some of the issues they would likely face if elected to the city council.
Here’s what incumbent city councilor Barry Sanders, who is running for reelection, had to say.
All eighteen city councilor candidates will be on the ballot in the Nov. 4 election. Voters will be asked to select up to nine candidates, and voters will also be given the option to write in up to nine options as well. The nine candidates with the most votes will be elected as city councilors.
Barry Sanders is a candidate in the November 4, 2025 Taunton City Council election.
Who is Barry Sanders?
Party: Democrat
Age: 60
Please describe your prior political experience, your profession, and your prior community involvement: I’m completing my 4th term on the Taunton City Council. For more than 35 years, I’ve served my community as a social worker—helping children, adults and families overcome the impact of child sexual abuse, domestic violence, substance use and mental illness. I’ve been teaching in the School of Social Work at Bridgewater State University for the past 6 years.
I’m a founding member of the Taunton Opiate and Substance Use Task Force and organized the first Overdose Awareness event in Taunton. I serve on the Massachusetts Municipal Association Personnel and Labor Relations Policy Committee and as a board member for the Matthew Mission at First Parish Church. For 17 years, I co-hosted the Silver City Meetinghouse radio program with the late State Representative Carol Doherty. I’m a former youth soccer coach and traveled to Texas with the Red Cross to assist with recovery after Hurricane Harvey.
What are the main priorities you would like to address with this next 2-year term on the city council?
If I am re-elected to the City Council, I will continue to focus on making Taunton more affordable, defend your right to public input, demand transparency and advocate for protecting our wild open spaces. As a city councilor for the past nearly 8 years, I have consistently voted to reduce the tax rate and shift the largest portion of property taxes away from residents and onto commercial and industrial companies. I have supported senior and veteran tax breaks and have voted in favor of affordable housing for seniors, veterans and families who struggle to make ends meet. I will look for new opportunities to bring in good paying jobs and keep the cost of living as low as possible. Public input on the City Council agenda exists primarily because of my advocacy to ensure your right to address the Council. I will continue to defend that right.
The city is set to open a new public safety building soon and as a result the current police station (located at 23 Summer St.) as well as the current central fire station (located at 50 School St.) will eventually be vacant. What should be done with those properties?
While the future of Central Fire Station isn’t certain, I hope that we’ll be able to utilize the building in a way that honors its history of service to our community. I’ll support a continued presence at Central Fire Station if our Fire Department experts believe it would be safe and beneficial to the downtown area they have served. The placement of fire stations is not a political one but rather a science that considers response time, population and building density, traffic patterns and several other factors. I’ll rely on our fire prevention professionals to guide the decisions about fire station placement.
The current police station is located adjacent to City Hall and will likely be merged with City Hall to increase capacity for office and storage space. I’m pleased that our police officers will soon be able to locate in a space that’s been built to meet their needs.
Do you feel that there is too much development in the city or not enough development in the city, and why?
Development in the city isn’t a question of too much or not enough, but rather where, why and for what. In 2023, the administration introduced the Marketable Properties Program with a stated goal to “determine highest and best use” of unused city property and to dispose of them to generate revenue for the city. As I said then, “highest and best use” is not always measured in dollars and cents. While the sale of abandoned properties and unused buildings would bring these properties back to usefulness, the sale of wild open spaces would betray their existing usefulness as natural spaces for wildlife, buffers between residents and commercial land and passive recreation for residents to enjoy. I will continue to support the development of unused buildings and abandoned lots while advocating for preservation and protection of wild open space.
What are your thoughts on this year’s city budget? Are you happy with what the city is spending money on?
My primary concern about the city budget is how it is presented to the Council. In my early years on the Council, the budget was thoroughly explained and explored with each department head. Yes, it was a lengthy process with several long nights of hearings but the Council got to hear directly from the department heads about their needs and how the budget met—or failed to meet—those needs. Several nights of hearings have now been reduced to a few hours without significant input from department heads. I know our department heads have vision that exceeds our current means. It is important for the Council to hear that vision and be engaged in helping us extend our reach.
I have objected to large pay raises for the administration’s inner circle when our teachers, public safety and laborers have to fight for small increases.
Do you approve of the way the city and tribe have handled the welcome center’s rapid expansion and do you think a future larger casino will be good or bad for the city?
I wouldn’t describe the expansion at the First Light facility as rapid. After legal challenges and administrative hurdles since 2012, there’s been increased activity at the site in the past few months. It’s a small fraction of what was originally envisioned by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and their financial supporters, Genting. This may result in a much better fit for the community. While many residents were—and still are—apprehensive about the original plan for a large casino/hotel/shopping/water park facility, the current outlook appears to be a much more measured and gradual increase in scope—likely better reflecting the economic realities of gaming in Massachusetts. Negotiations with the tribe about their expansion has occurred in executive sessions with the Council and the administration, however, I’ll say that I expect the Mashpee Wampanoags and Genting to function as good neighbors and honest partners. I won’t settle for less.
This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Taunton city council candidate Barry Sanders Q&A. Who is he?