Mark Sylvia
Fairhaven native Mark Sylvia has always had a passion for government and how it can do good things for people, he said.
A father of two, Sylvia earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and master’s degree in public administration from American University.
He served as Town Manager of Plymouth and, under the administration of former Gov. Deval Patrick, as director of the state’s Green Communities program, as commissioner of the Department of Energy Resources and as energy undersecretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Sylvia has most recently worked for the last 10 years in the private sector as chief of staff of renewable energy company BlueWave.
He is also a former Fairhaven School Committee member and has been Fairhaven Town Moderator since 2008.
He said he felt strongly that whoever replaces Straus can “hit the ground running.” Sylvia said he understands the processes of government and the impact on municipalities; from his time in local government, he’s built relationships in Gov. Maura Healey’s administration.
The biggest issue facing the 10th Bristol district, according to Sylvia, is the increasing cost of living. That’s felt in the access and affordability of housing, healthcare and childcare as well as the costs of insurance and groceries.
Housing: The Affordable Homes Act, a $5.2 billion package of housing legislation signed in August by Gov. Healey, was a “real step in the right direction,” according to Sylvia.
He said an important job as a state representative is to hold the Healey administration “accountable” as the new housing legislation is rolled out and implemented.
“It's making sure that I connect the dots locally with planning boards, select boards, mayors, housing authorities, to make sure they're connected to the right resources so they can tap into those programs,” Sylvia said. “And I can be not only an advocate for them but help them to navigate through what they need to do to tap into those resources.”
Sylvia said he “fundamentally” believes that communities, if given the financial and non-financial resources, can “do a lot of innovating.”
“Nobody knows better than the local communities themselves the best way to develop and create more housing,” he said.
Healthcare: Sylvia is focused on “continuing to drive down costs” in healthcare, he said.
Part of controlling costs is addressing for-profit healthcare issues, according to Sylvia, who said that for-profit corporations should not run or own healthcare systems.
The Steward Health Care bankruptcy crisis “should never have happened,” Sylvia said.
“We need to make sure that as many controls and restrictions are in place to ensure that that never happens again,” Sylvia said. “It didn't just impact people on the North Shore. It impacted people very directly here on the South Coast — both in terms of access to care, access to doctors — and that should never be something that we have to face at such a widespread level.”
Another factor in driving down costs is expanding care for mental health, substance abuse and addiction services, according to Sylvia.
“The legislature can do more to ensure that health insurance companies are providing more coverage for those areas than they do now,” Sylvia said.
Education: Sylvia said he is “a strong supporter of full funding for Chapter 70,” the state’s primary funding source for public schools.
“School districts need their full funding, and I get when there are challenging years, we have to be really thoughtful with the state budget, we can’t be all things to all people, but a priority in my mind is always local aid,” he said.
A former Fairhaven School Committee member for six years, Sylvia said he thinks “transportation continues to be the big challenge.”
He said he will “continue to advocate for” ensuring that municipalities get full funding for transportation, which is “a big cost for a school district.”
A comprehensive look needs to be taken “at local aid and how it can be more equitable and fair to communities and meet the needs of communities,” according to Sylvia.
“Having been a town manager and having to manage through all of that and then being a town moderator now and kind of really understanding how this all works I think will give me the opportunity to try and help find solutions,” Sylvia said.
Environment: “Climate change is real,” Sylvia said, and Massachusetts “has set a high bar” for what can be done “to address the climate crisis.”
Sylvia is a member of the state’s Commission on Energy Infrastructure Siting and Permitting, which provides recommendations for locating, permitting and developing clean energy infrastructure.
Investments should continue in energy efficiency and clean energy resources and technologies, according to Sylvia.
As a member of that state commission, Sylvia advocated to maintain local control over the siting of clean energy resources, he said.
“Always making sure that the local boards in essence have the final say in the process,” Sylvia said.
According to Sylvia, the commission had conversations regarding how to accelerate the deployment of solar energy in the built environment, land already in use, as compared to “greenfields,” undeveloped land.
“Solar is part of the solution both in the built environment and sites that are in greenfields, but continuing to do it in a responsible way, a thoughtful way,” Sylvia said.
Offshore wind, another renewable energy source, is “part of our solution,” according to Sylvia, who said he was concerned when the Vineyard Wind turbine blade break occurred.
The federal government was right to shut the project down, and it needs to be made sure that Vineyard Wind and manufacturer GE are “ fully transparent with what happened,” Sylvia said.
More effort needs to be put into working with the fishing industry directly, according to Sylvia.
“I’ll advocate to make sure that the fishing industry has a seat at the table with the offshore wind industry,” he said. “There’s so much that can be accomplished if both parties are able to work together.”
Sylvia was also the first director of the Green Communities program, the statewide initiative in which municipalities meet certain criteria in order to receive funding for energy-conservation projects.
“Cities and towns have been able to reduce energy costs, which then translates to reduced overall expenses,” Sylvia said. “It's enabled them to help drive down emissions and to generate new opportunities for clean energy locally, so it's been a real success.”
