Platform

 The board needs to implement the maximum CIP (commercial, industrial, property) shift allowed by law.   In addition small business exemptions and residential exemptions should be implemented. The town has not approved the maximum CIP shift it was allowed under Division of Local Services over the past 20 years.   As a result the Select Board has shifted $1.1 Billion of tax liability from business to residents over the past 20 years - source.  

 Introduce Agentic AI into town government functions through the town's current ERP and website platform.   By implementing AI the town will create incremental cost savings in future years. The annual savings can be used to fund increases to the Council on the Aging budget, union contracts for Police, Fire, Schools and AFSCME.  Read more in-depth here. 

The new Police Chief appointed by the Select Board looks to be an excellent candidate for healing to restore public trust.  I promise to work with the new Chief to implement some of the fantastic ideas he had during his Select Board interview.  I would also like to work with the Chief for creating a strategic plan for the police department, which the town does not currently have at this time.  

There are too many committees where the residents are not seeing transparency from the town.   Operating an open government where videos and meeting minutes are posted to the town's website will help to improve trust with the residents of Canton.  

Maintaining our roads and improving our crosswalks are my top priority.  In addition creating bike lanes on the town's major roads will help the town to make a meaningful impact on reducing carbon emissions.   With the passage of the MBTA community zoning, bike lanes are needed more than ever to help our residents have accessibility to MBTA stations.  Crosswalks all over town and near the train stations are in very poor condition, and I will make sure these are maintained properly.  Current leadership is neglecting our infrastructure.

The town currently has more charging stations than electric vehicles, so we have the capacity to convert our fleet to electric of hybrid vehicles.   While the town has had this capacity to purchase electric vehicles, the Select Board has failed to adopt a policy for purchasing new municipal vehicles.  

 Canton allows Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) as-of-right in most single-family zones, aligning with the state's Affordable Homes Act. Key rules include a 5,000 sq ft minimum lot size, separate entrances, and ADU size limited to half the main house's area, aiming to provide diverse housing options while maintaining small-scale development.  We need to incentive homeowners with tax abatements on ADU's and consider using the affordable housing trust funds to initiate these projects.  

The Massachusetts Downtown Initiative (MDI) offers a range of services and assistance to communities seeking help on how to revitalize their downtowns.  We need to work with downtown business owners and property owners to offer all available incentives to increase development of multi story retail and housing in the district.

 When the next trash contract is up for renewal during the upcoming Select Board term, I will work with the board to negotiate adding a composting component to town trash pickup as part of town services.   This composting component will help to reduce  the cost of the total tonnage of the trash which is the most expensive part of the contract. Read more here how this fits into the town's climate action plan.

We want our residents to be engaged in town meeting and special town meeting that appropriate our budget.  The special town meeting for the Galvin Middle School offered free child care which was a success for voter turnout.   According to school officials, there was a strong desire for this service expressed through community forums and general feedback to help young families. We should offer free child care for all of our annual town meeting to increase civic engagement in our community.