FRAMINGHAM — City councilors this week unanimously approved Mayor Charlie Sisitsky’s nomination of Ashland resident Heather Gutierrez to become Framingham’s newest citizen participation officer.
It’s the third time in less than a year that the mayor has had a nominee approved for the job.
“I’m honored to have been nominated for this position,” Gutierrez told the council during its meeting on Tuesday. “I lived in Framingham for 16 years, both of my children attended school in Framingham. So the city is very close to my heart, especially the citizens and residents of the city.”
Gutierrez, who currently works for the Massachusetts Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services, will start in Framingham on Jan. 30. She has previously worked for the City Solicitor’s Office in Marlborough and at a private accounting firm.
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Sisitsky said Gutierrez brings a number of strengths, particularly her history of assisting immigrants navigate different public systems, as well as her fluency in English and Spanish.
“She focused on helping immigrants with their legal status, their taxes and other financial issues,” the mayor said. “We are happy to report that Heather is bilingual, she speaks Spanish, and she is going to be a tremendous asset for us and the community.”
District 9 City Councilor Tracey Bryant noted that Gutierrez did not have a lot of direct civic experience on her resume and asked her what interested her about the role. Gutierrez noted that her previous positions, including working with a private accounting firm, prepared her to help service different members of the community and assist them in working with different government agencies.
“We prepared tax returns for folks who didn’t have the tools for understanding the tax system, and part of that service was also helping family-based immigration services, such as naturalization, petitioning for spouses and children in other countries, doing visas, and I had to work with many of these people,” Gutierrez said. “We had a broad, diverse community we assisted, primarily Latin but also from Africa. I feel like I have good experience working with different cultures.”
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District 8 City Councilor John Stefanini noted that Gutierrez is the third person selected to become citizen participation officer in the past year. Last February, the city hired Keziah Franca but she ended up returning to her position with Framingham Public Schools. And in November, Sutton Communications Director Pamela Nichols won approval from the City Council, only to withdraw after citing family obligations.
“We are hoping that the third time’s the charm,” Stefanini said. “It’s a very important position, it was the only position created in our charter that folks voted on. Voters felt very strongly about the need on how we can increase engagement, involvement and figure out how to help those who haven’t been involved become more involved.”
As the name suggests, the citizen participation officer’s responsibilities include assisting and supporting residents to become active members of the community. The job posting in November described the position as “to develop and execute outreach and education programs to ensure broad public participation in Framingham’s municipal government, ensuring a wide range of voices, experiences, and backgrounds are engaging with the City’s municipal government and services.”
The posting stated a salary range for the full-time position at between $73,532 and $82,810.
