"Honesty, transparency and integrity," said Al Mickel, Independent Party candidate for Town Council. "The transparency is that we favor open meetings, with information readily available and no backdoor meetings."

The Independent Party candidates for Town Council are incumbent Elaine Adams, Linda Masayda, Mr. Mickel, incumbent Paul Rinaldi, Ray Rondeau and Joseph Spino. The candidates for Board of Education are Thomas Ismail, Susan McCabe and Patrick Sharpe. Acting Town Clerk Ginny Russo is the Independent Party's candidate for town clerk.

Voting will take place from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, November 3, at the following polling places: Judson, Heminway Park and Swift Middle School. Those voters who normally vote at Polk School will vote at Swift Middle School.

One thing the Independent Party Town Council members want to accomplish is to establish a better relationship with the Board of Education.

"Some problems we have been having with passing the budget are because the citizens are really unsure what's going on there [with the Board of Education budget]," said Mr. Mickel.

Mr. Spino believed that with the Town Council and Board of Education working together, they could find ways to save taxpayers' money.

The Independent Party wants to establish a citizen audit committee to look at both the Board of Education and Town Council budgets, to try and locate waste.

"The committee will look at what's in the budget and what the money is actually being spent on," said Ms. Masayda. "It will make sure the money is going towards what it is supposed to."

Mr. Rinaldi said the committee was "not a witch hunt," but rather an attempt to find efficiency in the budgets.

"This is not an attack on the Board of Education, as we will do this with the town budget as well," said Ms. Masayda. "But [the Board of Education budget] is where a lot of the [community] mistrust is."

Ms. McCabe stated that the Independent Party wants to encourage more involvement from the community. After hearing about the CAPT and CMT test results, in which Watertown third graders scored in the bottom third in the state in several areas, Ms. McCabe believes that getting parents more involved will help the school system.

"I think that greater community involvement would be a great help," Ms. McCabe said. "When we had smaller schools, there was more parental involvement. The big thing is how to get families more involved. Whether the student is in 12th grade or first grade, that's an important piece of the puzzle."

Hoping to get taxpayers the "best bang for the buck," Mr. Sharpe wants to look to expand education without increasing the budget. He wants the Board of Education and school administration to look outside the box and at new technologies for creative ways to bring education to students without a large budget impact.

"The cost of education doesn't necessarily correlate with test scores," said Mr. Rondeau. "The fact that the town has weaknesses doesn't necessarily mean that the answer is to throw more money at the problem. We need to look at the cause of the problem as it relates to teachers and curriculum."

A focus should be on maintaining the recently renovated schools, according to Mr. Ismail.

"We've spent $84 million on our schools," said Mr. Ismail. "I'm making it a personal thing to make sure they're taken care of and properly maintained this time. I want to make sure that we don't have to do a project like that again."

Mr. Rinaldi believes that the best way to handle budgets is to give them an honest look and present the best possible budget.

"I think communication will go a long way," said Mr. Rinaldi.

Mr. Rinaldi also wanted to open the Independent Party's board and committee nominations to all people in town, regardless of affiliation. The current political parties usually only appoint people from their own political parties, but 60 percent of the town is unaffiliated with any party. Mr. Rinaldi wants to open government up to everyone.

"There is a lot of talent out there, and they [the Republicans and Democrats] are passing it by," said Mr. Spino. "That's what our party brings - we'll pick the best."

Ms. Adams said that was why the party chose Ms. Russo as the Independent Party's candidate for town clerk.

"Ginny Russo stepped up to the plate when the town needed her," said Mr. Spino. "She has 23 years of experience in our town clerk's office and she's been running it for the last three-and-a-half years.

According to Ms. McCabe, there are 90 functions that a town clerk is required to do, and Ms. Russo already knows how to do them all without any training required.

"If there's one person that needs to be elected, it's Ginny Russo," said Ms. McCabe.

"The important thing with Ginny is not just her experience but her proven track record of doing the job well," said Mr. Rinaldi.

Some people in opposing parties have described the Independent Party as a one-issue party and the anti-development party, due to a belief that the Independents are solely against commercial development on Route 262.

"There's nothing there," said Mr. Spino. "We haven't even discussed Route 262."

According to Mr. Spino, the Independent Party will not make a decision on Route 262 without hearing all the facts, as "information is everything."

Mr. Rinaldi agreed, believing that some people are making decisions before hearing the facts, when it should be the other way around, he said.

"To bring something to town without all the information is irresponsible," said Mr. Spino, who believed many in other parties had already made up their minds on the issue without properly hearing all the facts, as if they "have a crystal ball."

"If someone proves to me that [commercial development at Route] 262 is good, I'll vote for it," said Mr. Spino. "Just give me the information."

"To say we're anti-development is not the truth," said Ms. Masayda.

Mr. Rondeau believed that the Economic Development Commission needed to work more closely with the Planning and Zoning Commission to make sure everyone is on the same page.

"We can't have economic development talked about in town and then shot down at P&Z," Mr. Rondeau said. "It is important that business be treated fairly and equally."

Mr. Rondeau also wanted to see tax incentives created to help local businesses expand, as a way to retain companies currently in town.

Ms. Adams stated that the Independent Party slate is well-balanced, with Ms. Adams, Mr. Mickel and Ms. Rinaldi having experience, while the others offer fresh eyes on town government. She also noted that both major parties are represented amongst the Independent Party's candidates.

Mr. Sharpe said that everyone on the Independent slate wants to work for what is best for Watertown, not for the party and not for themselves.

"We're all looking at the bottom line for Watertown," said Mr. Sharpe. "As the quality of education goes up, our home values go up."

The Independents do not want to criticize other parties, but "note what we can do better," according to Mr. Rinaldi.