hello i am mark coloe by chair of the board of selectmen i have served on the board for these past six years prior to that i served on the war committee for six years and prior to that on the traffic advisory committee the member for the past twenty one years i was chair of the financial taskforce and i am presently treasurer of the belmont woman's club i am a c p a and a principal in the ryan national tax a consulting firm and we have two wonderful children stephen a two thousand and eleven belmont high school graduate and sarah who currently is a senior at the high school six years ago i ran on a platform that we can do better i believe the record shows that we have through hard work in a commitment to doing what is best for belmont we have accomplished a lot together on financial matters i drove the creation of the financial task force in december two thousand thirteen and served as its first chair the financial taskforce through its year long effort to develop the multi year strategic financial capital improvement plan this plan will be a blueprint for building  financial future the financial task forces work set the stage for a successful four point five million operating override in april two thousand and fifteen this override the first successful one  thirteen years provided financial stability for school in town budgets and increased our capital budget to finance our endless list of capital improvement needs we established a more effective and collaborative budget process which a compass is a one belmont one budget approach to the creation of the into a budget that is in the best interests of the residents of the community we strengthened the town's long term financial foundation by recruiting a management team which strong financial skills these financial accomplishments along with our ability to effectively manage town cos allowed us to remain one of only a handful of massachusetts communities with a aaa bond rating from moody's on town infrastructure replaced historic one hundred year old underwood pool what a beautiful new facility to serve the children and adults in our town for the next one hundred years we built a new well good school revitalized belmont center increased our investment in road and sidewalk repair in our near completion of a new electric light substation which will ensure they will be able to meet peak electricity demand now and well into the future we dramatically improve the communication and transparency with our town residents by stressing the importance of being timely pledges for the future even with all of these positive accomplishments there was unfinished business our fiscal challenges will remain residential growth will continue to place additional pressure on our school system and on town services we must complete the work of the financial task force and implement key recommendations such as maximizing non tax revenue opportunities in becoming more technologically innovative and how we deliver town services on major building projects we must ensure a successful design and completion of the belmont high school building project it will take strong leadership and institutional knowledge to guarantee success in building a new high school that is right sized and reflective of the educational needs of our students other major building building projects that we will need to discuss focus on in the future are the police station the library the  facility and the skating rink we must develop a sound in realistic long range plan to address them on the committee path i've been working closely with the community pat implementation advisory committee will issue an r f p soon for a feasibility study to hire an experienced consultant to study alternative routes chosen by the committee needs a community path and i am strongly committed to addressing this need there are other issues that to be addressed including effective storm water management managing a long term commitment such as our pension and other post employee benefit unfunded liabilities the minuteman high school building project continuing our support t solar rise belmont and completion of the cushing village project i would dress all of the issues by working collaboratively with town officials and residents but a long term commitment to the town i love this town it has been great to my entire family and to me it is a community where you can walk down the street and have a sense that the people that live here are looking out for one another that they are committed to doing what is right and want to see things improve it's an economically diverse community where our children thrive in schools what's a perk teaches wrapped in a culture of learning we must build on what we have accomplished so far preserving the best from our past while embracing new opportunities ladies and gentlemen it has been a privilege an honor to serve as your selection these past six years and i ask for the opportunity to continue to serve we have significant challenges ahead there's a lot at stake but i have the knowledge the experience and the skills to help find the solutions i am mark hello and i ask for your support and vote on tuesday april fifth thank you