Local candidates have been campaigning to reserve their spots on the Mansfield Town Council for the upcoming Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
This year, Mansfield residents can vote for up to six members for the council. Two candidates, incumbent Carlita Cotton and Aaron Bowman, shared more about their backgrounds and platforms.
Carlita Cotton
Cotton was first appointed to the town council in 2022 to fill a vacancy. In 2023, she was elected to remain on the council for a full term.
“As the first woman of color to serve on Mansfield’s Town Council, I bring a lifetime of service experience — 20 years as an Air Force veteran and a career as a professor of psychology,” Cotton said in an email to The Daily Campus. “This background in ethical leadership and empowering others drove my decision to serve our community through local government.”
Cotton’s first reelection campaign has been focusing on maintaining an open local government and building on the town’s strengths, according to Cotton.
She’s running as a member of the Democratic party alongside incumbents Mayor Antonia Moran and Deputy Mayor Ben Shaiken, and party candidates Sarah Dufresne, Sam Bruder and Lizzie Mullen.
Cotton has taken focus on the needs of Mansfield residents and their need to support local businesses.
“I’m committed to promoting responsible development, prudent financial stewardship, environmental responsibility and support for our local business community — all while preserving the values that make Mansfield strong: our dedication to learning, community engagement and mutual respect,” Cotton said.
Cotton’s outlook on the recent economic developments in Mansfield to present opportunities and challenges for residents.
“My approach prioritizes balance — ensuring that development projects support our fiscal health and business environment while maintaining our environmental standards and quality of life for residents,” Cotton said. “This requires transparent dialogue with all stakeholders and decision-making that considers long-term sustainability alongside immediate economic benefits.”
Aaron Bowman
Bowman is running as a member of the Republican Party alongside, incumbents Chris Kueffner, Charles Ausburger, Bill Tomecko and party member Gail Zaicek.
Bowman’s campaign slate is pinpointed to get back to the “Mansfield way.”
“It’s proven values or proven principles of Mansfield values and it’s really just kind of getting back to the basics, I hate that term, but getting back to having elected officials that are actually accountable for what they say, what they do and having more transparency in local government,” Bowman said.
He said his “whole goal is to not only make this place or this town better for my kids as they grow, but all the other families that are here and those that move to this town because the families and the people that make up this town are the bedrock of the community.”
Bowman has attended many town council meetings, speaking out when he felt he needed to, keeping local officials accountable.
“… we have to have more accountability in our elected officials, not just how they vote, but for the things they say and do.”
Bowman is no stranger to political campaigns. He ran for the House of Representatives in the 54th district in the last election cycle. He’s been knocking on residents’ doors and speaking with them for roughly a year, hearing their perspectives on their representation on the town council.
“It seems like talking with everybody in town, a lot of them feel like their voices aren’t being heard,” Bowman said. “You go to a town council meeting, you sit there, you have your five minutes in public comments, you start talking, you bring up your concerns, your right to redress the government, right? That’s the whole point of the Constitution … and they’re on their phones, they’re looking down, they’re on their computers. Maybe one, two people out of the nine make eye contact with you. It’s like they’re too busy to listen to the people in town.”
One of Bowman’s priorities is to ensure fiscal spending from the town and that the council serves as stewards to Mansfield.
“When you hear the town council talk, they’ll say it’s money in lieu of taxes from UConn or it’s grant money coming in, or it’s tax money … at the end of the day, it’s Mansfield’s money and they have to be good stewards and spending that,” Bowman said.
Bowman continued to say that the recent projects happening in the town have been coming in over budget, either due to “people bidding out these jobs and knowing exactly what they’re going to cost” or there being “some type of incompetency” with the council’s spending habits.
“That’s … one of the other things I want to get behind is ensuring that we have that fiscal responsibility to the money that comes into our town that represents all the people living here,” Bowman said. “So, whether you’ve been here for three semesters or 50 years, you’re still a part of that and it’s the job of the council to make sure that that money is being spent properly.”
Bowman noted the council’s discussion on a new bath house for Bicentennial Pond as an example of irresponsible spending.
“They want to spend $650,000 on a new bathhouse over at Bicentennial Pond,” Bowman said. “If you go and look at the surrounding towns, we have one of the nice[r] bathhouses probably in the area, which would need a couple upgrades to become ADA-compliant. Then they could use that money instead of knocking down [or] rebuilding something, putting it towards maybe a senior center that we desperately need, or the animal control facility, because it’s so outdated … just trying to be smarter with our money, and I believe that’s one of the things that really needs to be looked at … with the new council as it comes together in November.”
Following Bowman’s comments about the new bathhouse, he touched on the town’s affordable housing debate with UConn.
“If that’s [UConn housing] what we’re going to build, then that’s what the people should be told,” Bowman said. “Now there’s a lot of people in the smaller neighborhoods that don’t necessarily like all the rentals. UConn has a lot of land that I feel personally they should [use] if they’re not going to cap their enrollment. They should be building to sustain their student enrollment. That shouldn’t be on the backs of the people in town.”
While door knocking around the areas, the consensus Bowman has heard from residents is that the town is losing who they are by being taken over by the university — especially with the new housing developments — and feeling like there isn’t much balance between supporting the UConn and the town itself.
“I would like to see actual smart growth,” Bowman said. “Maybe some [can be] for student housing in certain areas in town but also making sure that we’re building housing for families to be able to move here. I believe there’s a good balance in it.”
His focal point on community comprises with UConn and residents to create a stronger Mansfield to ensure all decisions made by the town council are in the best interest for both groups.
“…There are no solutions, there’s only compromises and we have to make those compromises…especially for my position… [if I were to] get elected to town council, [it’s] what’s in the best interest for the residents, and that also includes the students.”