Brockton mayor hopeful Fontaine says he's the natural successor to the late Bill Carpenter

BROCKTON — Did you like Mayor Bill Carpenter? Fred Fontaine is staking his mayoral run on the argument that he's the natural successor to the man who held the city's top job from 2014 until his death in 2019.

"I know what the city needs," said Fontaine, a businessman who has worked in several mayoral administrations, in a recent election forum. "I will finish the job that Bill Carpenter started. We will do it together."

Fontaine cites his three decades of experience starting and running a variety of Brockton businesses as a reason voters should choose him on Sept. 19 when Brocktonians will narrow this year's field of mayoral candidates from five to two.

The gregarious Fontaine moved to Massachusetts from his native Haiti when he was 22. He says he has what it takes to build a coalition of voters whether their ethnic roots go back to Cape Verde, Haiti, Ireland or Italy. In Fontaine's analysis, that's the kind of winning coalition that Carpenter brought to power.

One of Fontaine's stock lines is a Reaganesque question, "Are you better off now than when I was working with Bill?'"

Fontaine, who generally radiates an upbeat persona, said the city is at a low point.

More: 6 key takeaways from NAACP's Brockton election forum — candidates spar onstage and off

"I have been involved in this community for the past 30 years," he told the NAACP forum audience, "and this is the worst I have seen for Brockton."

No position yet on school overspending scandal

As to the issue dominating Brockton politics right now, the $14.4 million budget overrun in Brockton Public Schools, Fontaine said he would wait and see before taking a position.

"I'm shocked. But let's let justice be served," Fontaine said in a Sept. 1 interview just after the scandal broke. "We cannot really say anything yet about that because, so far, they're investigating the situation."

Whatever the outcome of planned audits, Fontaine said the school district has to stop hemorrhaging students.

"A lot of people are moving out of Brockton [schools]. So we are losing money, big time," he said.

Making Brockton attractive to investors

Another plank in Fontaine's platform for mayor is to make it easier for businesses to open in Brockton. Case in point: the former K-Mart shopping plaza on the South Side. Fontaine's function hall, The Perfect Place, is one of the few active businesses.

Fontaine said it's been hard for him to do business in Brockton even though he works for the city as second-in-command of the Brockton Emergency Management Agency.

"We should make it easier for people who want to invest," Fontaine said in a recent interview at The Perfect Place. "It's so hard to get what you need."

Fontaine said the city makes people "wait and wait" for permits and other sign-offs while other cities beckon. "So why should I wait? The other city would tell me, 'Come, come.'"

Before the schools crisis exploded, the biggest issue in Brockton was arguably whether the city should go through on Mayor Robert F. Sullivan's plan to take control of the 66-acre former Brockton Fairgrounds and remarket it. Fontaine said he has an open mind after sitting down with city finance officials who explained how they'd finance the $55 million price that's currently on the table.

"I don't want us to be a city of 'no,'" Fontaine said.

Cleaning up Brockton

A perennial promise of mayoral candidates is that they'll be the one to finally clean up the city, which too often presents a weedy, uncared-for look in its homes, streets and businesses.

Cleaning up Brockton can't be just the mayor's problem, Fontaine said. It will require residents to take care of their own homes and streets plus enforcement from the city. Putting his hand about three feet off the floor, he says, "If it's my house and my grass is that high, you give me a ticket.'"

Fontaine has a bona-fide to tout when it comes to clean-ups. Under Jack Yunits' administration, Fontaine helped organize Keep Brockton Beautiful, which has become an annual event.

Fontaine seeks breakthrough after election defeats

Fontaine has run for local election before. In 2009, he lost a bid for city councilor at-large. He made an unsuccessful bid as an independent in last year's all-Brockton 11th Plymouth seat in the State House. He undercut his own campaign by failing to meet an election deadline for signatures. That meant he ran not only as an independent in overwhelmingly Democratic Brockton, but also that his name wasn't on the ballot.

For the Sept. 19 preliminary election, however, Fontaine is on the ballot. It will be up to the voters to see if he can garner the votes to make it to the general election against Sullivan, who is likely to make it out of the preliminary as he seeks his third term.

Send your news tips to reporter Chris Helms by email at CHelms@enterprisenews.com or connect on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @HelmsNews.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Businessman Fred Fontaine makes run for Brockton mayor