Vote for the most qualified person first. Before party, before the familiar name, before the smile on your porch. Start by figuring out who that is.

Look at the job. It means reading the documents before the vote: budgets, bond ordinances, bill lists, redevelopment plans. Asking what each costs years from now. Debt payments are up nearly 18 percent in one year. And when the numbers do not work, voting no. Part of this job is no. Source: 2026 adopted budget.

Picture the knock. Nice smile, firm handshake. Five minutes later you think, "Seems like a good person." Likable for five minutes, or qualified for the job? A porch cannot tell you who can catch a bad number in a budget. The record can.

From January 2025 through May 19, 2026, the Council took 129 non-routine votes. The two incumbents on this ballot cast 250 yes votes and zero no votes between them. Fact-check me: here is the full tabulation, vote by vote, with a link to the official Council minutes for every row.

Agreement can be right. Zero no votes out of 250 is a pattern. Draw your own conclusion. Here is mine. Saying yes to everything, all 250 times, is not doing the job. This Council does not need another automatic yes vote.

This year there is no real comparison. Two incumbents at 250 to 0. And me, with more than ten years of reading this town's budgets and bond ordinances and questioning them in public.

I am Edmund Tom Maciejewski. My wife and I have lived here since 2005 and raised two children here. I will knock on doors too. I hope you like me. Hold me to the same test.

Trained as a chemical engineer, I test evidence and ask whether a fix is worth its cost. More than 30 years in technology. More than two decades writing risk and trading software for major financial firms, where a wrong number costs real money.

One member cannot dictate policy. One member can ask the next question before the town borrows another dollar, explain every major vote, and answer your questions. I will get some calls wrong. Show me the numbers, and I will admit it in public.

Start with the most qualified. If that is me, give me your one vote. Two of six Council seats are on this ballot. A second vote is not a spare.

If you agree that I am the most qualified for this position, the best thing you can do to help me get into office is to bullet vote for me. You get two votes for Council, but I ask you to use just one. That gives me the best chance to get elected.

If you use your other vote, you are giving that vote to someone I am running against. The best chance for me to get into office is for you to use just one of your votes and vote only for Edmund Tom Maciejewski, 10B.

The handshake or the record. Most qualified first. Your call.