It is with great pleasure that We pen this letter of support for the re-election of John Coutinho to the Hopkinton Select Board.

John is a man of action, with strong convictions, values and business acumen, who is always working to improve the community of Hopkinton. For close to a decade John has been a positive change agent for Hopkinton, championing and executing numerous projects like the Hopkinton Library improvement, Marathon Elementary School building, etc. John understands the value that new businesses and developments bring to this town, and he is very good at identifying and championing causes that enable the growth of the town while being fiscally responsible. Under his watch there have been at least three budget underrides that have been passed by the town.

As residents of Legacy Farms we ran from pillar to post for a period of 1.5 years trying to get a resolution to the school bus stop issue. Most of the responses we got were, “We sympathize with you, but sorry we cannot resolve it for you.” Once John heard about the details and gravity of the issue, at a Meet the Candidate event, John proactively reached out to us. He studied the issue, understood the root cause, worked with the developer and various town departments and committees to enlist support and bring about a sensible and safe resolution for the issue (with ardent support from Meena Bharath, Muriel Kramer and Brian Herr). We are amazed, to date, with John’s meticulous approach to problem solving, his deep understanding of the town processes and rules, and his relationships and negotiation skills. It was not an easy task, it had never been done in this town before, but John never wavered once during the whole process, explored many options and resolved each issue as it came up. John has the best interests of all Hopkinton residents on his mind.

During this challenging economic and social times, we can all sleep a little better knowing that Mr. John Coutinho is on the Select Board watching out for all of us.

— Mahesh Charkam and Rajeev Thottathil

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