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10/11/2017 12:00 AMAfter challenging the Republican Town Committee (RTC) decision with a primary petition and winning a stunning victory, Ken Mackenzie has taken the helm of the Republican ticket and has his sights set on securing an office in Town Hall this November.
A longtime Guilford resident, MacKenzie has previously said he’s the only candidate with a proven track record in town and that his business and financial experience make him the best candidate to take on the difficult years ahead.
MacKenzie moved to Guilford at age five after his father took a coaching job at Yale University. After attending college and working as a chartered financial analyst in New York City with companies like J.P. Morgan and Citigroup, MacKenzie came back to town and bought a home in Guilford because of the community and the opportunity to raise his children here.
Introduced to service in town at a young age (he said his mother was heavily involved with the ABC program and his father was involved with the land trust), MacKenzie started to get involved with issues like the propane debate, the Shoreline Greenway Trail, the Stone House, and the Tuttles Point water main extension. Reflecting on those specific cases is what brought MacKenzie to public office. Now currently serving on the Board of Finance (BOF), MacKenzie said he wants to promote transparency and accountability as first selectman.
Fiscal Accountability
Through his campaign page and public comments, MacKenzie has spoken often about the need to reduce spending and strengthen the way the town reviews and prepares the annual budget. MacKenzie said he wants to be sure there is enough oversight in the budget process to maximize cost savings and efficiencies.
“I think going forward we are going to need to be much more mindful of our spending and I think we are just going to have to really scrutinize our expenditures even more thoroughly than we have,” he said. “I do think that my experience and background will allow me to bring a fresh perspective and a set of problem solving skills that perhaps weren’t currently there. I think I can use to my skills to help create a process that ensures that we are doing a more thorough job of looking through the budget line by line and department by department and making sure that we are providing people with the goods and services that they want at the best price.”
While MacKenzie said he often speaks about reducing spending, that doesn’t necessarily mean goods and services will be reduced as well. He said through efficiencies and creative solutions, the town can cut costs and keep services.
“We have to start thinking in a way in which we haven’t before,” he said. “We have to look outside the box, we have to come up with new possible solutions. It doesn’t mean when we make suggestions that we necessarily endorse that suggestion, but we have to look at the range of alternatives that are available and figure out what is best for the town and what is the best cost at which we can get these things done.”
According to MacKenzie, this type of outlook is going to be critical as the state struggles though its budget crisis and towns like Guilford await word on municipal aid levels. Mackenzie said he would have preferred a more conservative revenue estimate in this year’s budget, but said the reality is state aid is going down and towns will have to figure out how to handle the loss.
“We are in a position where in theory we are relatively well equipped to handle it because we have a rainy day fund that can take the bulk of the hit,” he said. “Having said that, if and when that becomes depleted, we are going to have to increase our mill rate to offset those things so it is going to be up to the new administration to work even harder at making sure that we are spending our money in the most effective and efficient manner in which we can…I have the skillset that will enable us to work together to come up with budgetary proposals that are in the best interest of the people of Guilford.”
Growing Guilford
To mitigate the loss in revenue, MacKenzie said he wants to focus on bringing business to town that might help grow the grand list as well as other businesses like restaurants or things for kids that might improve the quality of life in town.
“The ideal business to me would be something like a corporate headquarters with white collar jobs, jobs that were grated to people who would live in Guilford and buy homes in Guilford, bring their families here,” he said. “That requires doing some work and going out to try and find the right type of business.”
Looking for solutions like new business needs to be a part of a long term capital plan for the town, according to MacKenzie. While he said there are some capital plans in place, he wants to see one that is more inclusive and farther reaching—including things like the schools all the way to public safety initiatives.
“We have to consider the fact that our student enrollment is in decline, so we have a lot of capital projects coming forward with the schools and we have to plan to make sure we spend our money wisely,” he said. “Two years ago there was talk about a need to replace Adams Middle School, and I am sure within the next 20 years someone is going to suggest we will need to replace a school and there is an equal likelihood that someone will suggest that we need to close a school because of declining enrollment. We need to start making plans for all of these eventualities; we can’t just wait until the last minute for it to happen…We need to look forward and start to think about various solutions to various situations in the event they materialize.”
Increasing transparency is a big part of his platform as well. MacKenzie said that involves getting more people to partake in government through information, community meetings, greater participation on boards and commissions, and eliminating the “old guard”.
“We need to do a significantly better job in my opinion of inviting the public to participate in the decision making process,” he said. “We need to hold community meetings at least once a month, which we don’t do, [and regarding] the BOS meetings that take place at 8:30 a.m. on Mondays—that is perhaps the worst time in the world to get people to come to a meeting.”
While some things need to be changed, MacKenzie said there is a lot that needs to be protected as well. He said he is and has always been a big supporter of the Senior Tax Freeze program—a program from which his father benefits—and the public school system.
“I have two young boys in the schools system,” he said. “We have and excellent school system and I have always supported our public school system and will continue to do so, particularly our teachers. I think our teachers are fantastic and they have the most important jobs in the world and I truly believe that.”
At Your Door
As Election Day draws closer, candidates are hitting the street and knocking on doors to talk to voters. MacKenzie said two big issues he hears about in speaking with residents are affordability and transparency.
“We have to be cognizant of the fact that Guilford is becoming less affordable for everyone by definition, but there are many people that are unable to afford to live here, so we have to be aware of that and we can’t simply go on with business as usual,” he said.”I think that will continue to force people to leave Guilford. I think we need to be mindful of that and to do what we can to make Guilford affordable for everybody.”
The Team
MacKenzie is head of the Republican ticket after winning the primary, but how the Board of Selectman (BOS) slate is coming together is a matter of some debate after MacKenzie announced at a recent RTC meeting that he asked incumbent and BOS nominee Charles Havrda to leave the ticket (Susan Koch Renner is the other Republican selectman candidate). MacKenzie said his position has not changed, but he is ready to work with whoever is elected.
“I am focused on getting elected and I will work with individuals who are on any of these boards and commissions,” he said. “I am not worried about my ability to work amicably and astutely with anybody I get elected with.”