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Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Franklin Town Administrator Jamie Hellen (left) will serve as president of the MMA and Amesbury Mayor Kassandra Gove (right) will serve as vice president.
In a year that promises both challenges and opportunities for cities and towns, the MMA’s new president and vice president for 2025 pledge to continue the organization’s steady leadership and strengthen the voice of cities and towns around fiscal needs and other critical municipal issues.
During the MMA’s Annual Business Meeting on Jan. 25 in Boston, Franklin Town Administrator Jamie Hellen, who last year served as the MMA’s vice president, succeeded Waltham City Council President John McLaughlin as president of the MMA. The MMA’s new vice president is Amesbury Mayor Kassandra Gove.
Hellen said it was exciting to become president during the MMA’s rebranded and relocated annual conference, Connect 351, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. He said he seeks to maintain stable and consistent leadership throughout 2025, which will likely involve significant change at the global, national and state levels. He expressed confidence that local leaders will navigate challenges to have a successful and productive year.
Hellen said the biggest challenge for municipalities this year will be maintaining fiscal solvency. Local governments will struggle to balance budgets without making significant cuts “due to a perfect storm of factors”: a scarcity of federal funds, increasing demands for public services, added federal and state mandates, and the “sky-high” cost of living and continued cost pressures in almost every area of local government.
“I think it will be very important for the entire MMA membership to make sure their voices are heard on Beacon Hill relative to supporting significant increases in [Unrestricted General Government Aid], Chapter 70 and Chapter 90 to ensure cities and towns can perform the basics for our citizens,” Hellen said. “Every city and town has a unique fiscal challenge, but every one of us has a fiscal challenge, which relies heavily on state aid to solve.”
Hellen, who also serves as the District 2 representative for the Massachusetts Municipal Management Association, has been Franklin’s town administrator since 2019, after serving as the deputy administrator for more than three years. Previously, he was operations assistant to the town manager in Hopkinton, the municipal services coordinator at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and a staff member for several legislators and at the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Growing up in a family dedicated to municipal service, he began his public service career as a teenage lifeguard.
Hellen said he wants municipal leaders to have confidence in their role in the state’s success, and articulate their needs and the value they provide to Massachusetts.
“Cities and towns are the foundation and the front lines of public service delivery in our state,” he said.
Gove, the mayor of Amesbury since January 2020, said she’s “grateful for the chance to lead among an organization of leaders” and to advance their work in a meaningful way.
“I’ve benefited tremendously from the MMA, and the network it provides with extensive experience and resources available in its membership, staff and programs,” Gove said. “I also recognize the role of the organization in supporting the relationship between local officials and state leaders, and the opportunity we have to strengthen that relationship with power in numbers.”
Gove is also serving as the District 3 representative for the Massachusetts Mayors’ Association. Before becoming mayor, she spent five years working at the Amesbury Chamber of Commerce, ultimately becoming its executive director. She has also been a real estate agent, and has worked as an assistant director for programs serving students and alumni at Boston University and Clark University.
“I’m a fifth generation Amesbury native, the youngest and first female to be entrusted with the duty of leading our city,” Gove said. “I ran for office to make a difference and solve problems that matter. I enjoy the complexity of our everyday work.”
When they’re not working on behalf of local government, Hellen and Gove both enjoy recharging outdoors. Hellen spends time hiking, traveling, gardening and “continuing the seemingly never-ending house restoration.” Gove swims outdoors year-round and enjoys cold-water plunging, a vestige from the pandemic, and exploring the heights of New England.
“When not conquering a mountain of emails, I have found time to hike all the 48 New Hampshire 4,000 footers and Maine’s tallest peak, Mount Katahdin,” Gove said. “This summer, I’ll be working toward the remainder of the Maine 4,000-footers.”
Gove also plans to spend the next year listening to and learning from MMA board members and officials around the state. Hellen said he learned a great deal as the MMA’s vice president, and it gave him hope for the state’s prospects, even while facing challenges.
“My biggest takeaway was how incredibly bright the future of our state is, due to the many elected and appointed leaders I had the opportunity to meet this past year,” Hellen said. “This has reaffirmed my belief that we are the greatest state in the country, and the future for our Commonwealth remains as bright as ever.”