Elected to office in July, he will be seated after the Nov. 3 general election is officially canvassed
A familiar face will be back at the Clarkdale Town Council on Tuesday, Nov. 10 with Ben Kramer, 43, set to be sworn in after the Nov. 3 general election.
He and incumbent Councilwoman Laura Jones were elected in the July 21 primary in an uncontested race for two seats on the Town Council with a four-year term. Kramer replaces outgoing Councilwoman Lisa O’Neill.
“I think that it is really a service position, and your job is to be eyes and ears open and to be the person who’s there willing to have meaningful discussion with the other town council members about the issues going on in the town,” Kramer said. “I’ve gotten to see the town change over the last 40 years in a lot of positive ways, and there’s some pretty exciting new changes coming into town”.
Kramer, 43, was appointed to Town Council in September 2017, and won a full four-year term in 2018, but declined to be seated in order to apply to be the Clarkdale Manager following the retirement of Gayle Mabery.
“Following that, I just stayed involved in the town as a volunteer on Parks and Rec Commission, Public Safety Personnel Retirement Board. I did some additional time on the Planning Commission, and just stayed involved as a volunteer,” Kramer said. “After a couple years, we came up on this election cycle, and there was an opening, and they were looking for people who were willing to come back and serve again”.
Kramer graduated from Mingus Union High School, then majored in regional development with a minor in mathematics at the University of Arizona. After working in land development in the Tucson area, Kramer came back home to be closer to family and taught as a substitute for a couple years before ultimately graduating from the fire academy in 2009 and joining Cottonwood Fire Department.
“I spent two years as fire inspector, and then moved to the operational side of things,” Kramer said. “Worked as a firefighter up until 2023 when I was offered a position as captain with CFD, and that’s where I am proud to serve today”.
Kramer is married to Chell Smart-Kramer, the Clarkdale director of the Parks and Recreation Department, who he met in 2022. Their family include son London Smart, a sophomore at Arizona State University studying sports journalism, and daughter Syri Baird, a political science freshman at Northern Arizona University.
“I was a volunteer. I’ve been probably a 15-year volunteer on the boards and commissions with the town, and so I met Chell through my work as Parks and Rec Commission member,” Kramer said. “We just got married in June in Colorado”.
The top three goals Kramer cited for his term are:
■To support and strengthen the town’s grant management and acquisition.■In infrastructure development, “I want to support positive sustainable choices, things like the reclaimed water reuse.”■Develop the Trails Master Plan, [which] he has been part of the development of while on the Parks and Recreation Commission.
“I think that the voters gain a lot of strength with Laura Jones returning,” Kramer said of his fellow council member, who will start her second term. “She’s been a positive member of the council for so long, and they have a good, strong council in the town of Clarkdale. I would hope that they would support me because I want to be a positive force in the town. I want to have public discussion about town matters so that people are understanding and having their thoughts heard.
“My pledge is to do my best to be well informed, receptive and polite and [have a] positive presence on the town council moving forward.”
