Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Needham Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick is the new president of the MMA, and Attleboro Mayor Kevin Dumas is the vice president.
The MMA Board of Directors elected Fitzpatrick and Dumas for one-year terms following the association’s Annual Business Meeting in Boston on Jan. 26.
Fitzpatrick, who succeeds Waltham Councillor Robert G. Logan, is the first woman municipal manager elected to serve as MMA president.
She has worked in Needham for more than two decades, beginning as the town’s personnel director and assistant town administrator. She was promoted to town administrator in 2001. Four years later, following a change in Needham’s form of government, Fitzpatrick became the town’s first town manager.
Fitzpatrick said a key municipal priority for the coming year is to work with state officials to pass a much-needed long-term financing plan for roads, bridges, public transit and other transportation needs.
“The state’s road map for transportation is well thought out,” Fitzpatrick said, referring to a proposal put forth by the governor on Jan. 14. “And we want to keep that conversation going on how that will be funded.”
In addition, she cited the importance of maintaining quality benefits for municipal retirees “while also moderating the long-term costs for cities and towns.”
Other goals include encouraging local leaders to take part in the International City/County Management Association’s Annual Conference in September, which will take place in Boston.
Mayor Dumas was first elected in 2003 at age 27, making him the youngest mayor in Attleboro’s history.
His accomplishments include bringing fiscal stability to a city that had less than $8,000 in free cash when he took office; overseeing the renewal of the city’s downtown; and more than doubling the size of a program that enables seniors to perform community work in exchange for reductions in their property taxes.
