The Hopkinton Women’s Club hosted the 36th annual “Meet the Candidates” night at the HCAM-TV studio on April 23.

This event served as an opportunity for Hopkinton residents to learn more about the citizens running for public office, and to ask questions regarding relevant issues to the community prior to the town election on May 20.

Moderator Kathie Hebden welcomed attendees and candidates to the event and began the 2-minute opening statements from each candidate, in order of position and alphabetically by last name.

Opening Statements

The four candidates running for Select Board – Joe Clark, Brian Herr, Kyla McSweeney, and Peter Mimmo – spoke first. They are running for two three-year positions in this upcoming election.

Clark, who was born and raised in Hopkinton, said his mother, Marie, works as a teacher at the Hopkins school and his father, Ken, was a Hopkinton Firefighter for more than 40 years.

“One of the big things that got me out this year was just seeing the changes in town over the last couple of years. We have lost a lot of town employees…and that just frustrates me. I have a ton of pride in a family that has served this town, and to see the town in a state where people are no longer enjoying working here or want to stay working here, that deeply hurts me,” Clark said.

He added, “I look at this as an opportunity to reset things” and “instill confidence in our leadership.”

The town is in a “critical time,” dealing with issues regarding the Main Street Corridor project, two school projects, drinking water issues, and appointing a new Town Manager, Clark said. 

“All these issues really gave me the kick I needed to get out of my seat – not just complain about things, but get up and do something about it. The town is going to continue to change, and I look forward to that. This is about guiding the town to a new point as it evolves, but also giving a look at the past and keeping that charm that Hopkinton has always had. It’s really tough to do that if you haven’t been in town for a long time,” Clark said to conclude his opening remarks.

Herr, who is seeking a fifth term on the Select Board after his last term ended in 2021, said, “As Joe mentioned, we’re in a critical time in Hopkinton. I thought we had things set on a certain path a few years back, but unfortunately for different reasons, it’s time to reset and refocus our energy to move us forward together as one community.”

He said the town will face a “significant” amount of debt with the new budget, which is something he follows and is a major issue of concern.

McSweeney, who moved to Hopkinton in 2007 with her husband, said they are raising two children in the town’s public schools.

She said she works at the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) and works on projects which require “complex budget negotiations.”

Her work at the EEC provides her with skills and experience to manage the “pressing budget matters,” such as the Main Street Corridor project and various school projects.

McSweeney also said she plans to give residents and employees a voice to be heard by the Select Board.

Mimmo, who moved to Hopkinton in 2015 with his wife and two sons, said, “I decided to run for Select Board because I think using my experience as a civil litigator for the Commonwealth for the last 20 years, I think I can leverage that experience and offer measured, bold, and thoughtful leadership to our town.”

Mimmo said he has devoted his career to the Commonwealth and public service, specifically enforcing the state’s anti-discrimination laws, which drew him to run for Select Board.

“If I’m fortunate enough to earn your vote over the next few weeks, some of the priorities that I have in mind include supporting our green initiatives, supporting targeted and helpful tax relief for seniors, and most importantly, I want to make myself available so I can understand and help interpret the will of the people,” Mimmo said.

After the other candidates for office gave opening remarks (all of whom were running unopposed), Hebden led the candidates in a question and answer period with questions from the audience and online submissions. Candidates were given a 2-minute time limit to answer questions.

Accessibility to the Public

An audience member asked the candidates a question regarding their availability to set time aside to meet with and listen to Hopkinton residents.

“I pledge to make myself available for office hours,” answered Mimmo. “Person-to-person discussions with people that care enough to want to talk to public officials. If I’m going to govern, if I’m going to be an effective member of town government, I have to understand what the will of the people is,” he said.

McSweeney said she has already started meeting with town residents to listen to their concerns.

Herr said public officials have to engage with and build relationships with outside sources – such as state public officials – to be most effective.

Clark said he also hopes to use Hopkinton’s representation in the state government to help the town’s projects.

Election Integrity

Hebden asked, “How will you reestablish the integrity of Hopkinton’s municipal elections?” The question referred to the improper use of social media and how it has negatively affected the “political culture” in Hopkinton.

“People should not be using social media to tear down people’s character. We have an opportunity now to approach things from [the perspective of] what’s in the best interest of Hopkinton,” Clark said.

Herr said “respect” – among candidates, voters, and public officials – can help officials work together to do what’s best for Hopkinton.

“We all need to have a mutual respect for each other. While social media is helpful for spreading information around town, it’s not helpful to be getting into mean-spirited debates with each other. I may not agree with everybody in town, but I will absolutely listen to everybody in town,” McSweeney said.

Mimmo said, “Everyone in this room, who is putting themselves out there, sitting here tonight – we’re all volunteers. We’re here because we all love the community. … I certainly have an awful lot of respect for everyone in this room tonight.”

Green Initiatives

Hebden asked a question from the audience regarding environmental issues and actions in the community, especially in reference to Annual Town Meeting Article 36, adopting the Stretch Energy Code for new residential and commercial construction in Hopkinton.

Mimmo said, “I’m a supporter of the green initiatives,” especially the specialized code in Article 36 to achieve net zero emissions in new structures in commercial and residential structures.

McSweeney brought up concerns for residents building “modest” homes trying to manage the balance between the regulations in Article 36 and the cost factor of building a new home. She said she has since done more research on the issue and supports the initiative.

Herr, who works as a solar developer in Hopkinton, said he will continue to recuse himself from this conversation due to a conflict of interest with his job if elected. He said as a candidate, “The idea of getting to a net zero environment is fabulous. The challenge is, we have to make sure the technologies we are trying to adopt today are readily available and cost competitive in the marketplace.”

He added it is important to make sure the town does not get ahead of itself and is able to effectively implement these initiatives.

Clark said he shares McSweeney’s concerns regarding affordability for residential homes with this initiative. He said he looked more into Article 36 and supports it, but wants to better understand more about the commercial effects it will have on the community.

Attendance at Cultural and Diversity Events

Select Board member Amy Ritterbusch, speaking as a private citizen, wrote in to ask the candidates about their attendance to the community’s cultural and diversity events.

All four of the Select Board candidates committed to attending events in the future.

Upper Charles Trails Committee

The next question asked the candidates their views on the Upper Charles Trails Committee (UCTC), which the town voted overwhelmingly to disband last May. The Select Board, however, saw differently, and instead suspended the committee, then sent a survey to the town, and ultimately elected to review the committee’s charge instead.

Clark said he is open to reevaluating the format of the committee to become more effective.

Said Brian Herr: “I think it’s very, very important that we always listen to the general will, not only of the broader community, but of Town Meeting.” The lack of this has “created frustration in the community,” he said.

McSweeney said there is an opportunity for new leadership in this position to find the best solution.

Mimmo said the structure and organization of the committee needs to be evaluated by the Select Board to have “accountability” and “measured goals.”

Public Forum

Hebden next posed a question regarding the Select Board’s response to residents during open forum at Select Board meetings.

Mimmo said he believes it is important to give an opportunity for residents to be heard within the rules of the meeting and to address their concerns.

McSweeney acknowledged the difficulty of navigating the rules of meetings, but said residents in the town need to be heard.

Herr said open meeting laws in the state limit the Select Board’s ability to address resident’s concerns off-topic of the meeting’s agenda, but the Select Board can speak to the Town Manager to build concerns into future agendas.

“We can’t ignore the general will of the community, but we have to take steps to follow open meeting law and make sure we get it done in a timely manner,” he added.

Clark noted the needed structure of meetings, but said it is important to listen to recurring issues residents bring up and address them at appropriate times.

Increasing School Budget

Another question asked the candidates their views on the increased budget for schools, which leaves a smaller budget for town employees and other services.

“I don’t think we should be sacrificing any services that we are providing,” Mimmo said.

McSweeney noted the “tough decisions” in the upcoming budget and the need to provide funding for the schools.

Herr approached the lectern with the town’s proposed budget and said the town needs to work on “calming our spending” for the next few years to limit debt service and offered the idea to “flatline” aspects of the budget. 

Clark said the Select Board needs to find “balance” between needs and wants in the budget.

Cost of Living for Seniors

A concerned senior citizen posed the next question regarding senior citizens being “priced out” of the community.

“Affordability in town is a big problem. We need to figure out how to solve that,” Clark said.

He added that Hopkinton does not offer an easy way for residents to “downsize.”

Herr noted that a Home Rule petition will be considered at Annual Town Meeting, which would exempt senior citizens from paying the increase in taxes for school projects.

McSweeney added that helping senior citizens needs to be addressed because they serve on committees and are important to the town.

Mimmo said he wants to explore further tax exemptions for senior citizens, who he referred to as the “lifeblood” of the community.

Clean Water

Another issue posed was the quality of drinking water in the town.

Clark said this is an issue that needs to be “front and center” of conversations, specifically the quantity and quality of the water.

Referring again to the FY25 budget, Herr said a proposed tax cut on the expense line of the water enterprise fund “doesn’t make sense”, and that the town needs to be “proactive” to improve the water quantity and quality in the town. He proposed reinstating the Sewer and Water Commission to help navigate these issues.

McSweeney acknowledged this is an issue she wants to do more research and talk to experts to find solutions to the issue.

Mimmo said a key to address these concerns is to find affordable ways to deal with the water issue.

Sgt. Tim Brennan Firing

Another citizen posed the issue of how the Sgt. Tim Brennan situation was handled by the Select Board. Article 5 at the Special Town Meeting on May 7 is a Citizens Petition instructing the board to reinstate Brennan.

As an attorney for the Commonwealth, Mimmo said the dispute between the town and union should be negotiated among themselves, and he intends to vote down the issue at Special Town Meeting out of the respect for the collective bargaining agreement.

“I will pledge this: I will give a fresh set of eyes to that issue,” he added.

McSweeney, also a lawyer (though not in practice), said it is important to understand the entirety of the situation and that it is difficul to know the private conversations among Select Board members surrounding the matter.

Herr said the issue should never have left executive session and the town needs to shift from blame-based management to a solution-based process.

Said Clark: “It is under arbitration, so it makes it really challenging for the Select Board to weigh in now. I think the intention of the question was really going back…this was a very gray situation. It’s really tough for a Select Board to make the determination when, in my opinion, things should run through the chain of command in a department.”

He added, “Overall, the Select Board had an opportunity to hear the will of the town [during Public Forum] and they chose not to act. That was disappointing for me to see.”

Employee Retention

A concerned resident brought up the issue regarding town employees and police officers leaving.

Mimmo said, “I do think, in terms of the town, we’ve done a good job regarding these vacancies, and we can continue to do more to retain employees.”

McSweeney said, “We, as a Select Board, should spend time talking to the employees in town,” and supported an idea recently suggested by the HR department to conduct interviews with employees to assess how they feel in their position.

“In any organization, the organization takes on the personality of its leadership, said Herr. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve had several moments of instability on the Select Board and I think that has filtered down.”

He added that respect and competence makes him optimistic about what the Select Board can do to help the town’s employees. “We have to take care of our employees and we have to have the leadership to take care of them.”

Clark said this issue is important to him, and that he has “pride” for the town’s employees.

He added the need to find a new Town Manager is an opportunity to find a leader that can “build confidence” back in Town Hall and it is key to ensure the departments have the right leaders in place.

Commission on Disability

The last major issue addressed regarded the newly formed Commission on Disability, and how the town can improve to make the town more handicap accessible.

Mimmo said this committee can work with the Select Board to address accessibility in both public buildings and local business.

He added that raising awareness is an important goal to attain to ensure accessibility in Hopkinton.

“This is an issue that is near and dear to my heart,” McSweeney said.

She added it is important to address this issue in not only the school system, but across the entire town.

Herr said his first concern regarding this issue as a Select Board member would be to find the money in the proposed budget to address these concerns.

Clark said the Select Board is an important group to address these concerns and that the town has work to do on these issues.

Closing Remarks

The event ended with closing remarks from each of the candidates.

“We can build these new schools. We can provide needed relief to seniors if we work together civilly. I think I can offer that as a seasoned attorney,” Mimmo said.

McSweeny said the themes of the evening included bringing a voice to citizens and working on finding answers to the resident’s concerns.

“I pledge to work hard to listen to [experts] and to do research so we’re finding competent solutions and really leveraging the professionals in town,” she added.

“I feel really good about the future of Hopkinton. The voters of Hopkinton – for the Select Board – have four great candidates before them,” Herr said.

He added, “I think we have great choices in front of us. I happen to be one of the choices that has the experience. If that is something you value, then I would appreciate your vote on May 20.”

Clark said he represents “multi-generational public service in this town” and he hopes to look at the future while “keeping an eye on the past.

“I am vested in the future of this town,” he added.

“Even if you’re not voting for me this year, I want to see a big turnout at the voting polls. I expect a record turnout at the polls,” Clark added.

Next Steps

• Join the Select Board candidates at an informal open house meet & greet at 6:00 p.m. at the Woodville Run and Gun Club April 26.
• Tune into the Select Board candidate debate April 28 at 4:00 p.m., which will be broadcast live on HCAM-TV (Comcast channels 8 & 9, Verizon channels 30 & 31) and streamed live on HCAM’s YouTube page and HopNews.

Most importantly, continue to follow HopNews to help prepare your vote in the Town Election on May 20.