We asked this year’s Hingham 2025 Town election candidates for a response to this prompt:

In the community vision presented in Hingham’s Master plan, adopted in 2021, welcoming “racial, cultural, and economic diversity” is listed as a top priority. Can you please tell voters how you will use your public position to make Hingham more welcoming for all people?

Responses:

Candidate: Michael Puzo
Position: Town Moderator

Serving as Hingham Town Moderator is not only a privilege and an honor, it is a significant responsibility, given Hingham’s mission to be an open and welcoming community.

A defining element of Hingham’s governance is its continuing commitment to Open Town Meeting, where every voter is welcome to take part in charting the town’s future, with “voice and vote”. Town Meeting is not merely a gathering of citizens; it is the legislative body of our community. It is the meeting, the assembly of citizens exercising their right of self-governance, that decides issues of spending, zoning and land use, conservation, community preservation, to name just a few. New voices are both welcome and necessary.

As moderator, it is my duty to welcome all citizens, new and old, to the meeting. To encourage participation. It is my duty to conduct the meeting fairly and in an open and clear manner – to make the rules and procedures clear, so that people are comfortable in taking part. It is my duty to ensure that the discussion is full and fair, that all voices are heard, and that decisions are made only after thoughtful debate and in a courteous and civic-minded fashion.

The moderator has another responsibility that is perhaps less obvious, but critical, that is, appointing citizens of the Town to various boards and committees. That process is open, and all are encouraged to offer service to the community. The Select Board and the moderator take care to ensure that our fellow citizens know about these opportunities, and are invited to complete a Talent Bank form and offer to serve. We are fortunate to have so many citizens, whether long-time residents or those new to Hingham, who step up and offer to serve. The sooner you step up to serve, the better.

These are just some of the ways that I endeavor to ensure that, as someone who was new to Hingham in 1981, others find the same warm and welcoming community that I found those many years ago.

Michael Puzo, Hingham Town Moderator and Candidate for re-election

Candidate: Julie Strehle
Position: Select Board

Thank you to the Hingham Unity Council for its own efforts to make our community more welcoming and inclusive. It’s important to recognize that the 2021 Master Plan and its recommendations continue to be a relevant road map for our Town and its decision makers.

As a Select Board member, I will seek to promote environments in which every participant is welcomed, sees opportunities to contribute, and benefits from the interaction as well as the outcome.

Improved communication about our Town and the activities of its boards and committees gives everyone access to the information they need to explore ways they can participate. I’d like to improve communication from Town Hall to residents, and improve communication between Town boards and committees so we can break down silos and work more efficiently. The strength and success of our Town government can be attributed to the hard work of its citizen volunteers.

Two important committees contribute to making our Town more welcoming to people, the Human Rights Commission and Commission on Disabilities. Formed by a vote of the Select Board in 2022, the Human Rights Commission advises the Select Board on how to ensure that the Town of Hingham supports diversity and equity while fostering inclusion and belonging for every member of the community. The Commission has been an especially important voice in speaking out against expressions of hate that have come up in our community, and I support any effort to model respect and celebrate diversity. I will continue the Select Board’s support of this committee and its important work.

I am impressed with the ongoing work of the Commission on Disabilities to integrate and invite participation of people with disabilities in our community. This Commission raises awareness to all forms of disabilities, and encourages compliance throughout the Town with the Americans with Disabilities Act. As a Select Board member I will support their ongoing work, and especially appreciate the efforts to enable participation in any Town of Hingham programs, services, activities and meetings.

Another committee making our Town more accessible and welcoming is the Hingham Affordable Housing Trust (“HAHT”), a well-run team which works to purchase, renovate and convert homes and condominiums into affordable housing. I support this committee’s ongoing commitment to the goal of creating five new affordable housing units each year for a decade (for a total of fifty units by 2031), and its efforts to shepherd the Lincoln School Apartments through necessary capital improvements.

Finally, I am committed to careful Town budgeting in order to keep our town affordable. We have gone through a long period of large capital projects and an override, and we continue to face demands on our budget and necessary infrastructure improvements. Long-term financial and long-term capital planning can help the Town manage the community’s needs while keeping tax rates as stable as possible.

I look forward to serving all residents of our beautiful and welcoming Town.

Candidate: Alyson Anderson
Position: School Committee

It has been both a pleasure and an honor to serve our community as a member of the Hingham School Committee. Over the past few years, our committee has worked hard on many initiatives from the building of the new Foster School to the override and negotiations with the Hingham Education Association. One of the efforts I am most proud to be part of is the ongoing commitment from the district to ensuring our schools are safe, inclusive and welcoming for all students, families, and staff members.

As a School Committee, we have the responsibility of setting the policies that shape our school culture. In my role as Chair of the Policy Subcommittee, I have worked with the committee to ensure our policies reflect the Town’s dedication to diversity and inclusion. With recent policy updates mandated from the federal level, we took the opportunity to affirm all members of our school community by continuing to include intentional language around the protected classes within our state and district.

But policies alone are not enough. Community wide, there must be a willingness to listen. I am committed to listen to the experiences and voices of all. It is only through open and honest conversation that we can understand the full impact of decisions and work together to create meaningful change.

As we continue to navigate the complex challenges facing public education, it is more important than ever that we lead with empathy, integrity and a clear vision for the kind of community where we want to live.

I have gained so much knowledge during my first term, and I am proud of the progress that we have made. At the same time, I know there is still more work to do. I am ready to continue this important work by collaborating with other town leaders, my committee, educators and families to ensure that our schools reflect the best of who we are as a town.

Thank you for placing your trust in me. I am always open to hearing your thoughts, concerns and ideas. Please feel free to reach out any time. Together, we can build a school community where every student feels supported and empowered to succeed.

Candidate: John Mooney
Position: School Committee

Public education improves community pride by forging common experiences across the town, reduces economic inequality, and strengthens our democracy. Public education is a public good; it is the great equalizer that allows any child, of any race, of any culture, of any socioeconomic background to succeed. All of Hingham’s children will be prepared to serve their community and country as active citizens if we properly fund their education.

Candidate: Crystal Kelly
Position: Planning Board

My name is Crystal Kelly and I am running for the seat on Planning Board that is being vacated by Rita DaSilva. Thank you to the Hingham Unity Council for asking the important question of how I would use my public position to make Hingham more welcoming to all people. I personally support welcoming racial, cultural and economic diversity to Hingham, as I believe that diversity enriches our wonderful town and everyone in our community benefits from it.

The Planning Board is a statutory board that is integral to shaping the character of the Town and charting the impact and direction of its growth. The Board issues certain land use and development permits, performs site plan review and prepares zoning amendments, among other duties. The permits issued by, and the bylaws prepared by the Board are neutral as to racial and cultural identity. However, economic diversity could be increased in our Town through deeded moderate income and workforce housing. As a member of the Planning Board I would support efforts to include moderate income or workforce housing where appropriate.

Candidate: Tom Patch
Position: Planning Board

As a born and raised Hinghamite with deep family roots in Hingham starting with my Irish immigrant great, great grandparents who came to Hingham in the mid-1800s in search of their American Dream, I have a profound appreciation of and stake in ensuring Hingham is a welcoming community to be paid forward in my role as the next member of the Planning
Board.

My lived experience and understanding of history is that since my great, great grandparents’ time Hingham has ebbed and flowed in its diversity but the ethos has always been welcoming. In this regard, I have a clear memory how this was instilled in me and my generation by the Hingham community, and the importance of fostering and ensuring that ethos through leading by example – irrespective of an individual’s private or public official status.

The brilliance of our predecessors is their recognition the Town’s ethos is the product of the intertwined past, present and future in equal parts rather than from a focus on only certain parts to the exclusion or diminishment of others.

In my great, great grandparents’ era land in Hingham was plentiful, relatively inexpensive, and freely available for acquisition, and the population relatively low (1850: 3,990; 2023: estimated 24,189).

Today, the legacy and success of our predecessors’ welcoming ethos vision has in large measure caused Hingham to be a highly desirable place to live which, combined with limited housing opportunities, has caused the price of entry into, let alone remaining in, Hingham to become an insurmountable impediment for most people, e.g., starter home availability and cost, real estate tax burden. That financial impediment is particularly acute for many people of color, recent immigrants and seniors who find themselves in an economically disadvantaged position.

Consequently, I view the impediment to becoming a member of the Hingham community was – and is – financial: whether a person could – and can – afford to live in Hingham. Recognizing this, my answer to the question presented is to create more affordable housing stock and to reduce the real estate tax burden so those with less economic means can come to and remain in Hingham.

As a member of the Planning Board I will have significant opportunities to implement housing affordability and to generate additional revenue streams by proposing, advocating for and effecting zoning provisions, Subdivision Control provisions, Master Plan provisions, permit reviews, studies and – most importantly – planning that does not just aspirationally promote but actually result in delivering the goods on housing affordability and additional revenue through responsible development. This includes mixed-use, inclusionary, and (a more productive) Flexible Residential Development zoning.

My extensive background in planning, economics, real estate development, municipal law, representation of businesses, and deep understanding of and devotion to our Town, provides me with a critical knowledge base, experience, skill set and perspective to be able to achieve tangible results in the present and in the future rather than offering the promise
of aspirations.

I respectfully ask for your vote for Planning Board on May 3rd. Thank you.

Candidate: Rosemary Byrne
Position: Board of Health

I am Rosemary Byrne and I am running for re-election as a member of the Board of Health. I am a Nurse practitioner and a Hingham native. I have been raising my family here for the past 17 years and have served for the past three years as a member of the Board. The Board of Health oversees the Health Department’s use of data-informed decision-making, outreach to underrepresented groups, and a commitment to inclusive public engagement, to ensure that all residents—regardless of background or socioeconomic status—have equitable access to resources that support their health and well-being. As a member of the Board of Health, I have learned a great deal about how our Town operates to protect our public health and I would love to continue to serve my community. I would be so appreciative of your support in the upcoming election.

Candidate: Adrienne Ramsey
Position: Recreation Commission

As the Recreation Commission appointee to the Hingham Master Plan Committee, I am committed to the vision of cultivating racial, cultural and economic diversity in Hingham. The Recreation Department provides high quality and affordable recreational programs to residents of all ages, abilities and interests. Its goal is to help as many people as possible in Hingham to live happier and healthier lives. Maintaining safe and accessible fields and facilities throughout Hingham is the cornerstone of our mission. It is important to us that every resident feels welcomed at our facilities.

The Recreation Department also hosts summer programs for 4,200 residents each year. Proceeds from the Annual Fourth of July Road Race are used to support scholarships to these programs for Hingham residents who may need financial assistance, and the department proactively works with the Hingham Public Schools to proactively inform residents of this opportunity. The Hingham Recreation Fitness room also offers residents affordable gym membership at the price of $125 per year while offering complimentary membership to those 75 and older.

I am also committed to being a responsive, collaborative voice on the Recreation Commission—one that brings people together and helps make our town more connected and inclusive. I want every person to feel that Hingham is not just a place they can live, but a place they truly belong. I kindly ask for your vote.

Candidate: Tim Sullivan
Position: Housing Authority

Hello, I am Tim Sullivan, candidate for Hingham Housing Authority.

I live in Crow Point, with my wife and 3 children 10 and under. Next year all 3 will attend the new Foster School together.

Since making this town my family’s home, I jumped in right away to coach Hingham Little League and Barker Basketball League.

The Mission of the Hingham Housing Authority is to enhance the Town of Hingham’s community by creating and sustaining safe, decent, sanitary, and affordable housing environments for people of low income.

I look forward to bringing my experience to that mission, including nearly 20 years on MembersPLUS Credit Union Board of Directors, where I Chair the Community Reinvestment Act committee that deals in issues of affordability.

I am running because I believe in being active where you live and trying to be involved at the level of government that most directly impacts us.

I have a lot to learn but I believe the very mission of the Hingham Housing Authority and programs I’ve initially looked into, like the Family Self-Sufficiency Program, dovetail with your prompt quite nicely.

Our community is beautiful and welcoming, but affordable it is not. By ensuring quality, affordable housing in our town we can provide low income individuals and families the opportunity to start and build lives here in the great town of Hingham. A key way to ensuring we are the welcoming town we strive to be is to prioritize opportunities to secure housing here so more people can join and remain in our community.

I’m unopposed so after Election Day I’m excited to get to know and work with the professional staff that runs and maintains the Hingham Housing Authority, as well as HHA Tenants and their Tenant Association, in order to do our part to live up to Hingham’s community vision.

I respectfully ask for your support. Thank you to the Hingham Unity Council for the opportunity to share this statement.