Ruthanne Fuller is the thirty-first Mayor of the City of Newton and the first woman elected Mayor in Newton’s history. She was sworn into office on January 1, 2018, and is now serving her second term.

Mayor Fuller is committed to prioritizing and improving Newton’s stellar education, sustainability, affordable housing, infrastructure, and economic vitality. She is dedicated to listening to every voice in each of the City’s thirteen villages and, through leadership and thoughtful decision-making, transforming opinions on all sides of an issue into strategic plans that will benefit this good City now and for future generations.

By working together with City staff, residents, activist groups, and collaborators, the Mayor believes that Newton can continue to set the standard for what it means to be an inclusive and welcoming City. The Mayor believes that achieving such a goal is only possible with the thoughtful input of her residents, so she is prioritizing communication and accessibility with her frequent newsletters and Open Office Hours.

Strong, thoughtful education is the cornerstone to Newton’s long-term success. The Mayor launched an intensive program to rebuild many of the City’s aging schools to ensure Newton’s students study, learn, and play in the facilities they deserve. The Mayor is planning for renovations at Lincoln-Eliot, Horace Mann, Franklin, Countryside, and has successfully completed the renovations at Newton Early Childhood Program, Oak Hill and Cabot on-time and on-budget. Under her leadership, she set the goal and budgeted to implement full day kindergarten. As the pandemic unfolded, she maintained Newton’s world-class education system by investing $4.5 million in ventilation, provided funding for the infrastructure for remote learning, and ensuring the school nurses received the training and support necessary to help staff and students.

The Mayor is determined to make Newton a green city and leader in environmental sustainability. In 2019, the Mayor developed the City’s first ever Climate Action Plan that outlines the necessary steps to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, emphasizing energy conservation, thoughtful consumption and disposal, greening Newton’s transportation and moving away from fossil fuels. In the first year of her administration, the Mayor launched Newton Power Choice, which now ensures that 82% of Newton’s electricity is sourced from local renewable sources, broke ground on Phase III of the City’s solar installation plan, made Newton’s fleet all electric, introduced a bike share program, added 4.7 miles of bike lanes throughout the City, launched a vetted compost curbside collection program, and hired an energy coach to consult with residents about energy conservation. She also permanently protected Newton’s largest forest, Webster Woods, from development.

In order to create a more diverse and equitable community, Mayor Fuller knows Newton must have more affordable homes that are accessible to all. The Mayor proposed the conversion of the West Newton Armory into 100% affordable housing and the acquisition of four homes at the Walker Center for affordable housing. She reactivated the Housing Partnership, established the City’s first Affordable Housing Trust and enthusiastically supported the Golda Meir and Haywood House projects which created 113 units of permanently affordable housing. She supported the revision of the city’s inclusionary zoning and accessory dwelling unit ordinance to encourage affordable housing. 

To make these changes sustainable for generations to come, the Mayor is committed to proactive planning and updating the City’s Zoning Ordinances to retain what is best about Newton, while allowing Newton to evolve in ways that embody our communities’ values. The Mayor, in collaboration with staff and community members, has developed guidelines for Needham Street, Washington Street, Northland, and Riverside to create commercial buildings, office space, and affordable housing. The Zoning Redesign process is continuing with a lot of progress on village centers.

The Mayor is committed to managing, maintaining, and improving the City’s infrastructure so residents of all ages and all villages are connected to one another. The Mayor has dedicated more than $9 million per year to road improvements. She also developed plans to improve accessibility at the Auburndale, West Newton, and Newtonville commuter rail stations and the Newton Highlands T stop. She is leading the effort with the State Delegation, especially Representative Kay Khan and Senator Cindy Creem, and with Congressman Jake Auchincloss, for state and federal funding to make all three commuter rail stations not only accessible but to be rebuilt with two-sided platforms so service can also be frequent.

Committed to inclusivity, the Mayor has dedicated herself to caring for and lifting-up Newton’s older residents. Under her leadership, her team invented NewMo, a ride-share transportation service dedicated to seniors and raised the income level of the City of Newton Tax Deferral program to help ensure seniors on tight budgets can afford to stay in the City. The Mayor also unveiled plans to open a state-of-the-art senior center in Newtonville that will feature multi-purpose activity spaces, an art room, and walking track. True to her belief that the City’s success is dependent upon the input of its residents, she convened a Working Group to hear the community’s recommendations and followed through with their suggestion to preserve the historically significant elements of the existing building.

Arts and Culture provide our villages with the vibrancy and community that form the bedrock of our City. The Mayor developed a Comprehensive Arts & Culture Plan that presents a strategy to strengthen and expand arts and culture throughout the City, using it as a mechanism to make Newton a more welcoming and prosperous City. The Mayor also increased funding for arts grants and added staff to the Arts and Culture department.

The Mayor is devoted to improving the City’s financial health and economic vitality. She is aggressively funding pensions and retiree benefits, has increased the City’s cash reserves, and is ensuring the City maintains its Triple A bond rating. The Mayor regularly communicates with the business community and has initiated a series of innovative programs, including creating “al fresco” dining spaces on city streets, establishing dedicated “pick-up” parking spaces in village centers to encourage take-out, and opened “pop up stores” in vacant storefronts.

Mayor Fuller first served as an Alderman-at-Large in Ward 7 from 2010 to 2017. In that role, she was a leader in reconstructing outdated school buildings (Angier, Zervas and Cabot), creating long-term investment plans for water, sewer and stormwater systems, and implementing specific steps to ensure Newton’s long-term financial sustainability.

A graduate of Brown University and Harvard Business School, the Mayor has over two decades of experience as a strategic planner for non-profit organizations and businesses, including WGBH.

Mayor Fuller and her husband, Joe, moved to Newton over twenty-five years ago and raised their three sons, Mark, Chris, and David, here. The Mayor is the proud grandmother of Henry and Jeremiah, and co-parent of Callie, her beloved dog.