John C. Klimm (born November 5, 1955) is an American municipal administrator and politician.

Early life

Klimm was born in

Hyannis, Massachusetts Hyannis is the largest of the seven villages in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area at the 1990 census. Because of this, many refer t ...

. He graduated from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

with a B.A. in Political Science and Economics.

Political career

Klimm began his political career as a Barnstable Town Meeting member. In 1981, he was elected to the town's Board of Selectmen. At the age of 25, he was the youngest Selectmen in Barnstable's history. He remained on the Board until 1987, when he became Southeast Regional Director of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. From 1991 to 1999, Klimm represented the 2nd Barnstable District in the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

. After leaving the House, he worked for the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce.

Municipal administrator

From 1999 to 2011, Klimm served as Town Manager of Barnstable. During his tenure, Barnstable received an AAA bond rating and was awarded the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award and the Excellence in Financial Reporting Award from the

Government Finance Officers Association The Government Finance Officers Association (or GFOA) is a professional association of approximately 19,000 state, provincial, and local government finance officers in the United States and Canada. GFOA is headquartered in downtown Chicago. Name ...

the Smart Growth Award from the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

, and the All American City Award from the

National Civic League The National Civic League is an American nonpartisan, non-profit organization founded in 1894 with a mission to advance civic engagement to create equitable, thriving communities. The League envisions a country where the full diversity of communi ...

. On June 23, 2011, the Barnstable Town Council voted 6 to 5 to end Klimm's contract early. There was no reason given for ending Klimm's contract. The agreement stated that there was "no cause for discipline, suspension, removal or termination of the town manager". He signed the agreement, stating that he was "tired of the turmoil". Per the agreement, Klimm was placed on leave on September 30, 2011 and his contract expired on December 15, 2011. However, he would be allowed to receive his salary and remain on the town's health insurance through March 2013. On January 25, 2012, the Portsmouth Town Council chose Klimm to serve as Portsmouth's next Town Administrator. He was selected from a pool of more than 65 applicants from 22 states and Canada. He took office on February 13. In 2014, Portsmouth became only the second Rhode Island community ever to receive a AAA Bond rating from

Standard & Poor's S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is con ...

. He did not seek a new contract in 2014 and later accepted the city manager's position in Aiken, South Carolina. He resigned on February 9, 2018. In addition to his work as Town Administrator, Klimm has also worked as an adjunct professor at

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. With 7,560 students (includes all campuses, 7,379 at the Boston location alone), it is the eighth-largest university in metropolitan Boston. It was founded as a l ...

Sawyer Business School The Sawyer Business School is one of the three schools comprising Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. Suffolk was founded in 1906; the Business School was founded in 1937 by Gleason Leonard Archer. Academics Sawyer Business School of ...

, where he taught courses in labor relations, state government management, managing public organizations, and administration of local government.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klimm, John C. 1955 births Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences alumni Bridgewater State University alumni Massachusetts city managers People from Barnstable, Massachusetts Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives People from Aiken, South Carolina People from Hyannis, Massachusetts People from Portsmouth, Rhode Island Suffolk University faculty Living people