Four aldermen show support for Brink as he kicks off campaign for candidacy for mayor of Quincy

QUINCY — Family, friends and supporters filled the basement of the Tower of Pizza restaurant to celebrate Dan Brink’s campaign kickoff for his candidacy for mayor of the City of Quincy.

However, the number of aldermen in attendance raised a few eyebrows.

Brink was the first candidate to make his political intentions known in October 2023 but waited until Thursday night to invite backers and the media to a celebration. He was a Republican alderman in Quincy’s 6^th Ward from 2009 and 2017, and four current members of the 14-person Quincy City Council — Greg Fletcher (R-1), Jeff Bergman (R-2), Richie Reis (D-6) and Jake Reed (R-6) — were in attendance on Thursday.

Paul Havermale, who ran against current mayor Mike Troup in 2021 and served on the City Council from 2003 to 2019, and Reis stood alongside Brink as he made a 10-minute speech.

“I’m supporting Dan because I think he has the capability of being a good mayor for the city of Quincy,” said Reis, an alderman since 2017. “He does his homework on things, and he doesn’t leave any rock unturned. He’ll look through the whole problem and come up with a good solution.”

Bergman, an alderman since 2015, said Brink’s previous experience and knowledge of how city government works internally makes him the best candidate.

“Dan knows the importance of an administration and a mayor working with the City Council and having good communication and team building so we can move forward in a positive manner,” Bergman said. “He is probably one of the hardest working aldermen I ever served with. He did his homework and asked a lot of questions. He made a lot of people uncomfortable with some of the questions. The reason he asked questions is he wanted to make sure the facts were true, and things were being done the proper way.

“My faith and hope with Dan is that we will have better communication with him as a mayor than what we currently have. There will be less frustration for the public watching us on Monday nights as we try to conduct city business and do it the proper way.”

Fletcher said Brink has more respect for the aldermen than Troup does.

“I’ve known him for a long time, and he shares more of my values than the current mayor,” Fletcher said. “I just think he can take us in a better direction.”

Brink said after his speech that Mike Farha (R-4), the longest-tenured alderman on the City Council, also has publicly voiced his support for his candidacy. 

“There are several aldermen who have pledged their support,” Brink said. “That will unfold as the campaign unfolds.

“I know the role of an alderman, and they know I know. I think they understand that I will work with them together. It will not be a conflict situation. I will communicate with the aldermen. I’ll provide them all the information, and we’ll make sound decisions for every citizen.”

Troup, a Republican, announced his plan to run for a second term as mayor in March. He and Brink will meet in a primary on Feb. 25. Former city treasurer Linda Moore announced her plan to run as an independent in August. She will meet the winner of the Republican primary in the consolidated election on April 1.

Brink said during his speech that the biggest issues facing Quincy are:

• Fixing the streets
• Promoting public safety
• Providing clean and safe water
• Creating safe and affordable housing
• Promoting tourism, especially sports tourism
• Developing a plan for the anticipated announcement of Father Tolton’s sainthood
• Recruiting people to fill open jobs
• Introducing the Welcome Home initiative for veterans, which would employ anyone recently honorably discharged or retired from active duty.

Brink said he wants to fix “our deteriorating streets” without raising taxes. 

One of the first steps he said he would take is to create a color-coded map on the city website. The different colors would indicate the condition of the street and the last time they were inspected, allowing residents to learn how their street compares to other city streets.

“How do we pay for a plan that could be very expensive? We cannot tax our way out of this problem,” Brink said.

He said the best way to pay for street improvements is to bring more people to Quincy for events and tourism. He called Quincy “a warm and inviting community … with a rich history in the arts, architecture and athletics.” 

Brink said he would work with the aldermen to leverage the food and beverage tax revenue (which creates $1.8 million annually) to build a facility for sports tournaments. It would have a bubble with a turf field and another building with basketball and volleyball courts.

“Having talked with several investors, this would work best as a private/public partnership,” he said. “The revenue created by these tournaments would affect our sales tax, purchase tax, hotel/motel tax and food and beverage tax. It would create direct income for many of our businesses. The revenue received above budget would be placed in a capital reserve fund. It would be spent to fix the streets and to hire people to maintain our streets.”

Brink said his team will be knocking on doors and creating petition signs. He plans to file his petition to run for mayor on Oct. 21, his son Evan’s birthday.

He closed his speech by saying he will “serve every citizen with respect from day one.”

“I like bringing people together, creating a team environment and making the best decisions possible going forward,” Brink said.