Meet Al Oliveira

Al Oliveira is running for the Select Board to keep a veteran’s voice on the board and use his more than 20 years of city management expertise in Dartmouth.

Oliveira, who served for 22 years in the military first as a Marine and then as a member of the Air National Guard, decided to run for the Select Board after realizing that the Board would be losing a veteran’s perspective once Stanley Mickelson is no longer on the Board.

Oliveira currently works as the Director of City Operations in Fall River where he oversees multiple departments, including the Department of Public Works facilities, parks and cemeteries.

He noted that he’s been handling budgets for more than 20 years as a director and manager and said that he’s familiar with municipal budgets. This includes writing capital project plans and capital needs assessments for capital improvement plans.

Oliveira also currently oversees Fall River’s Public Works department, which deals with solid waste, recycling, roads and highways.

“I’m not running [for the Select Board] to learn. I’ve already learned in my last 20 years,” he said. “I know what every department does. I don’t have to go through a boot camp of departmental understanding.”

This includes knowing what “every single department does in the town,” he added.

Oliveira noted he does need to learn how specific departments operate in Dartmouth.

He called the town’s buildings the community’s “assets” and said that it’s vital to maintain Dartmouth’s infrastructure.

“If those falter, then we’ve got problems,” he said.

He added, “If we can’t get our money in line and if we can’t take care of our assets, we’re in trouble.”

In addition to Dartmouth’s buildings, this would include making sure the town’s roads, water and sewer are up to par and also making sure that the public safety departments are all online.

Oliveira said that the school district’s budget is “notoriously one of the largest components of the pie” and noted that this is due to the fact that the budget includes the necessary funds to maintain its infrastructure and buildings and deals with students, unions and teachers.

He called the school department a “city amongst the town” and said that if people don’t understand this then it would be his job as a Select Board member to explain it.

“My 10 years with the school department has awarded me the knowledge of why certain things are that expensive,” Oliveira said.

He added, “Is there a little bit of fluff? Yeah, but in an emergency, we need to make sure that we take care of those items.”

Oliveira also said that the town needs to work with the politicians up in Boston to address Eversource pricing for energy, gas and electric, noting that Dartmouth has one of the highest energy use in the area.

He noted that he’s a Dartmouth homeowner who knows the “pitfalls of higher energy bills.”

Oliveira said that listening would be a key factor in his approach to the job, as well as understanding that there can be repercussions to what members say. 

“So [it’s about] making sure that you’re part of the plan but not part of the problem,” he said.

For Oliveira another key component is being a leader.

“I’ve been involved with many, many leadership courses, many leadership trainings, and the military has given me the leadership skills,” he said, “So bringing the leadership into this is vital.”