To the Editor:

My name is Mike Morgan and I’m seeking election to the Canton Town Board. I reside in the Village of Canton and I’m a 20-year member of Canton Fire & Rescue where I served five years as chief. Canton is a great place to live and work and I would love the opportunity to help make it even better.

I am currently Chair of the Town Planning Board, and as such, I have a great view of the growth potential for our town. We are averaging about a dozen new homes being built in each of the last few years. To foster even more growth, we must provide the services expected off a great community while striving to keep the tax rate down. Our roads need to be in good shape, and the highway department must be adequately funded to accomplish this. Our fire and rescue departments must have the funding they need to keep providing the great service that they provide. The recreation department needs the funding to provide safe and positive activities for our youth to enjoy. The code office, economic developer, the clerk’s office, the assessor, and the court must all be properly funded to do their jobs of providing services to our taxpayers.

We must actively and aggressively promote Canton as the best place to live and raise a family. We have a great school system, we have recreation, we have the benefit of the culture and sports that our area colleges provide, and we offer a safe place to raise children, and so much more. My wife and I raised our family here and we enjoyed all of these benefits.

Growing and sustaining the tax base is the best way to raise more revenue without raising the tax rate. It is certainly not an overnight process and will take a lot of dedication and devotion to achieve. I am willing to take on this challenge.

The current town board has proven to be remarkably progressive. We must continue and expand upon this. We simply cannot afford to return to the old ways of running our town government.

I have run a small auto parts business for many years and am the current treasurer of Canton Fire & Rescue, so working within a budget is not just a concept to me. We need to be creative in finding monies, we need to continue to work with the village, the county, and Canton Central to consolidate services beyond what has already been accomplished.

If you share the idea of a better, more prosperous, and progressive Canton, I ask for your vote. If you have ideas that you would like to share with me, please email me at michaelkmorgan@verizon.net or call me at 386-4979.

Mike Morgan,

Canton