Bower Will Not Seek Re-Election as Selectman

Framingham Board of Selectmen Vice Chair Mike Bower announced he will not be a candidate for re-election in 2016, Monday night in a press release.

Bower has served the Town of Framingham in a variety of capacities during the past 9 ½ years.

Bower served as a Town Meeting Member from 2006 until 2008, with a one year stint as Chair of the Standing Committee on Education (2007-2008).

From 2008 until 2013, Bower served on the Framingham School Committee where he was Clerk (2009-2010) and Chair (2010-2011).

Since 2013, Bower has served on the Board of Selectmen with one year as Clerk (2013-2014) and two years as Vice Chair (2014-present).

“As a board we have worked well together and collaboratively with the town administration to really move the town forward in a very positive direction. I am extremely proud of our efforts to stabilize our property taxes and water and sewer rates, to invest in needed infrastructure improvements and technology, to hire and retain outstanding town personnel, to effect significant savings in town employee health care costs, to achieve Green Community status, to augment the school budget for rebuilding and improving student achievement and to work closely with the Planning Board and other stakeholders in creating a business friendly image for the town,” Bower said.

Bower said in his press release his signature accomplishment is the transformation of the process by which the bib numbers allocated to the Town of Framingham by the Boston Athletic Association as a host community of the Boston Marathon are utilized and distributed.

The process that Bower, former Selectmen Chair Dennis Giombetti, Town Manager Bob Halpin and Assistant Town Manager Jennifer Thompson developed called for a random selection (lottery) to allocate the 22 to 25 bibs with the selection being open to town residents and town and school employees. Fundraising and training components were established.

“I am most proud of my work to establish Team Framingham which in the past two years has raised more than $112,000 for local charities and has seen 46 of 47 team runners complete the challenging Boston Marathon course” Bower said. He went on to add “we have established a close tie to the Greater Framingham Running Club, of which I am a member, to assist in providing training opportunities for the runners. I look forward to continuing my work with Team Framingham for years to come in preparing town citizen and town employee runners to achieve success in the Boston Marathon and to raise countless additional hundreds of thousands of dollars for important local charities.”

Bower said this was not the end of his service to the Town of Framingham, yet a change in focus and direction.

“I plan on remaining very active in the development of the Team Framingham program and for the coaching and mentoring the team’s Boston Marathon runners in the years ahead. I also look forward to expanding my involvement in the Greater Framingham Running Club and the many worthwhile community related projects that the club is involved with as well as working toward improvements in my own running through the great training opportunities afforded club members.” Bower said.

The 2016 annual town election is scheduled for Tuesday April 5.

Bower said he decided to make this announcement early so that serious candidates for the seat could have the necessary time to weigh the time commitments and responsibilities of the office and if they so choose to run to properly plan for the election campaign.