Peggy's Goals
for the People of Madison
"We've faced significant challenges since my election that no one could have imagined. The Coronavirus Pandemic upended society, and my attentioned quickly turned to keeping residents safe, helping people get unemployment and vaccines, and ensuring our small businesses could survive. After 15 difficult months, we have come through stronger than ever before. Today, we are rebuilding our local economy and helping residents every day."
LEADERSHIP THAT LISTENS
Preserve our unique character
We are a traditional New England, small town that treasures our open spaces, protects our coastal beauty, honors our past, but is welcoming to new families and visitors alike. We also value diversity in our community and are open to new ideas and new faces. Any public policy or plans should be in line with our community values and not detract from our greatest assets.
Invest in our crown jewels – Madison’s schools and beaches
Most people move to Madison for the schools and/or the beaches. We need to modernize and maintain our public buildings in ways that are cost-effective and sustainable - so that families will want to move and stay here. Good schools benefit everyone, not just parents and students. We also need a proactive strategy for coastal resiliency to protect our town beaches and coastline neighborhoods against the challenges of global climate change.
Maintain our strong value proposition to taxpayers
Madison has prided itself on offering its citizens “good value” for tax dollar. To do this, we need to invest in and improve those services that are most attractive to residents, while also preserving our fiscal strength. We should tactically use our balance sheet when necessary to support appropriate investments, and approach the capital improvement process holistically rather than piecemeal. The entire community should be offered choices of what, when and how much money should be spent on improvement projects, with full and accurate information on how each fits into a grander plan. Ultimately it is our citizens that should determine at the voting booth what they believe to be “good value”, rather than town politicians.
Create a more responsive town government to the community
Good communication with stakeholders is the foundation for any good government. We need to educate the public about issues affecting our town through better, more timely communications. This includes offering meaningful opportunities for public input and participation before plans are presented to the community - and listening and acting in a way that respects diverse points of view. We also need to modernize and streamline our town services to make them more user friendly, and encourage greater transparency in how things get done.
Make Madison attractive to seniors, families, and young people alike
Madison is a multi-generational community and we need services and facilities to reflect that. We need housing stock that can be attractive to many facets of our community, and we should prioritize development that targets underserved segments of the population. We should also be welcoming to new businesses, amenities and services that serve across demographic lines. It takes a village to raise and educate future generations and we are all in this together. We need to refrain in public discourse from pitting the interests of one generation against another for political purposes
Be a leader in regionalization
Our town leadership should be proactively pursuing opportunities to share services with our neighboring towns – those services that fit within our community values. By identifying low risk ways to share costs, we can improve some of our services while save money through the benefits of economies of scale.