Ruthanne Fuller is running for Alderman at Large in Newton’s Ward 7 to fill the seat being vacated by Alderman Verne Vance.

As Vice-Chair of the Citizen Advisory Group on the City’s finances and as the President of her local neighborhood association, Ruthanne has worked extensively with city leaders and professional staff to analyze the key issues facing our community. From that experience comes her deep concern for Newton and its future.

“Newton is currently facing significant financial and management challenges that require clear-eyed and energetic leadership,” Fuller stated. “Costs are rising more rapidly than revenues. We are underfunding some critical needs, particularly our buildings and roads. Moreover, we continue to commit to items such as employee benefits that are beyond the city’s ability to fund. Deterioration in services is inevitable unless Aldermen and the Mayor make prudent, thoughtful choices.”

According to Fuller, the City of Newton needs to implement significant changes in 2010. With an energized Board of Aldermen working with a new Mayor, Newton’s leaders can create a clear vision and economic plan for the City’s future consistent with both the values of its citizens and a sober analysis of available resources. Ruthanne believes Newton needs policies that will:

• Provide strong financial management
• Increase the productivity of our government
• Preserve our neighborhoods while increasing economic development
• Invest in our infrastructure

Ruthanne’s platform includes the following points:

• Increase the productivity of our municipal government, especially through the creative use of technology, and consolidation, outsourcing and regionalization;
• Restore our crumbling school buildings, roads, equipment and parks;
• Pursue “smart growth” development opportunities that ensure the economic vitality and diversity of our commercial centers while preserving our residential neighborhoods;
• Moderate the growth in all aspects of the City’s costs, reducing the scope of services where appropriate;
• Encourage and support the School Committee as it develops innovative teaching paradigms and deploys educational technology that provide our children with an excellent education in a cost effective manner;
• Act transparently and resolutely in making the need for difficult choices clear to all our citizens; and,
• Modernize management practices, financial planning, and the zoning process by working closely with city employees.
  

The Board of Aldermen needs to cultivate a culture of continuous improvement. “Newton needs to be clear about its goals, put resources towards the highest priorities—our schools, our fire and police, our roads and parks, and our neighborhoods, and measure the results relentlessly.”

Alderman Verne Vance is chairing Ruthanne’s Campaign committee and George Foord will serve as Treasurer.

Ruthanne has served most recently as Vice-Chair of Newton’s Citizen Advisory Group that has helped define choices about municipal and educational service levels, find ways to improve the city’s and the school’s operational efficiency and effectiveness, and develop new or enhanced sources of funding. Before that, she served on Newton’s Blue Ribbon Commission on the Municipal Budget in 2006-2007; the Blue Ribbon Commission highlighted the gap in the rate of growth of Newton’s expenses and revenues.

As President for the last five years of the Chestnut Hill Association, Ruthanne has been deeply involved with issues facing all of Newton’s villages: finding the right balance between development and traffic; building a sense of community; and involving the police in safety issues. In particular, she helped shape the Planned Multi-Use Business Development ordinance that affects the Omni site on Route 9.

Before moving to Newton fourteen years ago, Ruthanne served as co-chair of Brookline’s Financial Planning Advisory Committee and was a member of Brookline’s Finance Committee and Chair of its Strategic Planning Sub-Committee. After graduating from Brown University and Harvard Business School, she worked for years as a strategic planner in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. For example, she helped Hyundai develop its entry into the United States and WGBH develop measurable plans for both the organization as a whole and its individual departments. She has been an active Board member of a number of non-profits, including WGBH, Facing History and Ourselves, and the Boys and Girls Club of Boston, often helping refine strategic and financial plans.

With her husband of twenty-six years, Joe, she is a parent of twin sons, Mark and Chris, who are juniors in college, and of David, who will start college in the fall.

For further information, contact Ruthanne Fuller at:

617-738-5311
www.RuthanneFuller.org
ruthannefuller@gmail.com
32 Suffolk Road, Newton, MA 02467