Mr. Main Street

Mr. Main Street
Arthur Vigeant, 50, president, Marlborough City Council

(BILL POLO/GLOBE STAFF)
August 16, 2007

Mayor Nancy Stevens may be the official face of Marlborough, but the image that the city has presented to the public lately has increasingly come to resemble its powerful City Council president, Arthur Vigeant.

Blunt-spoken, conservative, and pro-business, Vigeant has pushed a variety of measures that, for better or for worse, have put Marlborough at the center of public debate over issues of immigration, education, and even civic civility. And the city has followed his lead. Vigeant recently pressed for the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to open a branch office in the city to discourage illegal immigrants from settling there. Not long after, the city's School Committee passed a measure, criticized by immigration advocates, requiring parents to show three proofs of residency before their children would be allowed into the Marlborough schools.

Former mayor Mike Hogan said Vigeant's influence stems from his stature as the city's longest-serving public official and as a consistent vote-getter come election time. Hogan also said that Vigeant's deep family roots and his local business ventures give him a home-field advantage.

"He's constantly seeing people in the post office and at local restaurants," said Hogan, who is now president and chief executive of the giant A.D. Makepeace cranberry company. "When you're always there, you have a different seat at the table."

© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.