1. Approach to town government. All town leaders, whether elected or appointed, are representatives of and for the entire Guilford community. The First Selectman is the only elected full-time representative of the town's residents, and the First Selectman should have no other work responsibilities that could in any way limit full-time attention to the town's needs. All town leaders, including the First Selectman, must:

• Accept that their primary goal will be to serve the Guilford community as a whole, making honest and reasoned recommendations and decisions based on the best interests of the community today and into the future;
• Seek out the views of all people, and respectfully and thoughtfully listen to and consider them when making important decisions, and to the greatest extent possible attempt to develop consensus;
• Respectfully and promptly respond to questions about matters of town government;
• Make every reasonable effort to gather facts and data upon which responsible decisions should be made, and communicate them to people in order to let them consider them;
• Use the skills and talents of board and commission members, town employees, and volunteers to gather and review information necessary to make responsible recommendations;
• Comply with state and local ethics rules, including the Guilford Code of Ethics, without exception and without hesitation.

2. Budget, finances and economic development. We need to take a fresh look at expenses and income so that our services match the level of taxation that a majority of our residents believe is reasonable and that reflects what they consider important that our town provide. The diversity of our town is one of its strengths, and we cannot price people out of town. Accordingly, we should:

• Cooperate with other towns to provide services that could be more efficiently provided regionally;
• Solidify our financial position by funding our undesignated reserves (the fund balance) within guidelines of the Government Finance Officers Association;
• Demonstrate to bond rating agencies the strength of our town's finances;
• Adopt zero-based budgeting;
• Directly tell our citizens exactly what services will be cut or limited when budget cuts are made or recommended;
• Fight to open the state employees health care plan to towns and small businesses;
• Never hesitate to shop for a better deal, whether on health care, needed equipment, or services;
• Open and maintain lines of communication with businesses to address their reasonable needs and concerns;
• Retain and attract businesses to diversify the tax base;
• Analyze whether services for which the town contracts with outside vendors could be more reasonably and economically be provided by town employees;
• Work with the General Assembly to meaningfully reform the existing local property tax system;
• Exercise meaningful oversight of the revaluation process by appointing an expert panel to evaluate its fairness and to ensure transparency;
• Enter into agreements that do away with outmoded provisions that no longer serve the best interests of the town;
• Maximize revenue in creative ways;
• Carefully consider whether our permit fees are in line with nearby communities and consistent with state law.

3. Quality of life and public safety. Not all of our services can be measured in dollars and cents. Many, added together, make up the reasons why people chose to live in Guilford. In addition to those listed above, our goals should include:

• Seeking to preserve for future generations open spaces that represent irreplaceable recreational and environmental opportunities;
• Ensuring that our police department continues its record of outstanding service;
• Carefully implementing the fire services recommendations as budgets allow;
• Making sure that zoning, wetlands and other rules that are reasonably related to the goals that they were intended to further and are enforced fairly, promptly and impartially;
• Encouraging energy saving technology by town businesses and property owners;
• Investigating whether Guilford should become a wireless community.

4. Education. We have a responsibility to provide an excellent education to our children, not merely a good education. State law gives primary responsibility for this to the Board of Education, but all town leaders should:

• Recognize that the foundation of an excellent education is cooperation between highly qualified educators, parents, and the community;
• Maximize cooperation between the town and the Board of Education to share personnel, equipment and supplies;
• Support the process started by the Board of Education to assemble facts to evaluate needs at Guilford High School and Adams Middle School, and ensure that any project is well-planned and takes into account all available information.
• Continue to support the Board of Education, school administrators and educators in their cooperative efforts to maintain and improve teaching quality.