Muriel Kramer, Selectwoman

For the past three years it has been my pleasure and honor to serve Hopkinton as a Selectwoman, the past two years as Chairwoman. We are a community making great strides towards professional and strong Town Manager government. I am looking forward to the continued opportunity to facilitate and support that transition.

The current Board is a terrific team that pursues vigorous, necessary and respectful debate on the issues while working to a resolution that all members can support. Respectful, professional debate was a key goal of mine when I ran for the Board three years ago, and I am gratified to be part of a process that is now steadfastly respectful, open and purposeful.

My husband, Randy, and I have lived in Hopkinton for sixteen years, and we have put down deep roots. We are raising six wonderful children from ages six to twenty-one years. Tyler is currently a junior at UMASS Dartmouth, Brian a freshman at Oneonta State College, Lindsay a junior at Hopkinton High School, Kacey in seventh grade at the Middle school, Julianna in third grade at Elmwood and Ethan in first grade at Center School. My husband and I both have volunteered extensively in youth sports, Boy and Girl scouts as well as in the schools.

I believe in seeking out the opinion of others and working to build consensus to move things forward. We have worked with great success to stabilize town finances looking for responsible ways to increase revenues and trim expenses. With the Town Manager’s tragic accident taking place shortly after I was re-elected Chairwoman of the Board, I worked successfully to delegate responsibilities to other selectmen and oversee the transition to bridge the management gap until an Interim Town Manager was hired.

The Board followed through on hiring a new Human Resources Director and upon Mr. Troiano’s return hiring Hopkinton’s first Chief Financial Officer (CFO) as set out in the Charter. Additionally, the Board hired a new firm experienced in municipal law to improve service and better manage costs. I continue to work diligently to facilitate a SMART Growth Development project, Legacy Farms, that satisfies two overriding priorities, to improve the quality of life for residents and be revenue positive for the Town.

-Please Click here for a list of Accomplishments-

If re-elected, I’ll continue working with my positive leadership style on the Board of Selectman to tackle the tough issues, build consensus and problem solve for specific results. I will continue to pursue fiscal initiatives to bring our expenses in line with our revenues and limit the structural deficit. In the next year, I will work to gain consensus among town departments to reduce debt and better manage capital expenses to maintain a manageable debt ceiling.

We face challenging economic times coupled with tremendous growth. We need new ideas, hard work and continuity of leadership to meet this challenge. My personal style is to listen carefully, think creatively, and act decisively. In my tenure I have had to make some tough decisions, not all of them popular; however, I maintain a consistently positive and professional demeanor.

In his book Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy makes the point that, “We shall need compromises in the days ahead to be sure. But these will be, or should be, compromises of issues, not of principles.” We need to stay true to Hopkinton’s Master Plan, find ways to eliminate the structural deficit in the Town operating budget and work all the issues in a collaborative and non-partisan fashion to move forward together with Hopkinton as our first priority.