Michael Kiernan Speaks For 'Old EG' On Town Council

Michael Kiernan, a life-long East Greenwich resident who is running for a second term on the Town Council, says he is the candidate of what he called "Old East Greenwich."

"Being here as long as I have," he said, "I try as best I can to stick up for the people who have been here a long time and want to continue to be here."

He does this, he said, by working to keep property taxes low, because many of the long-time residents aren't as affluent as the newcomers.

"The town is greatly influenced by people who haven't been here that long, and aren't going to stay that long," Kiernan said. "They vote for these big, expensive projects but they aren't going to be here long enough to help pay for them."

If reelected, the way he can best keep the tax rate low during the next budget cycle, he said, is to return to the residents the $8 million that the school construction projects came in under budget.

"The [school] Building Committee is probably going to want to spend all that money," he said. "But we need to do something to help out the tax payer. Debt service is going to be one of the biggest issues this town faces over the next few years."

To that end, he is not a proponent of investing $3 million of the anticipated savings to fix the wet floor at Meadowbrook School.

"I think that would be pouring money into a black hole," he said. "It's a 40-year-old building that never worked right. Instead of dumping more money into Meadowbrook, we should be looking for solutions at other schools."

He also said the School Committee should help the taxpayers by negotiating a more cost-effective contract with the teacher's union – something the Town has already done with its union-represented employees, such as the police officers.

"The bulk of our tax dollars goes to teacher's salaries and benefits," Kiernan said. "Not to say that teachers don't deserve a fair wage, but they should be called to the table like everybody else in these ridiculously difficult times."

And he is not only a proponent of keeping resident's taxes low, but businesses, as well. He said he would like to offer new businesses tax incentives to relocate to the South County Trail area.

"We need to be able to attract corporate businesses with tax incentives," he said. "Main Street is very important, and it makes the town attractive, but our bloodline is the commercial businesses on Route 2. If we don't give businesses a reason to come here they are going to go somewhere else."

Kiernan is a civil litigator, and a partner at the law firm his father started, Kiernan Plunkett & Redihan.

He is the only elected official in East Greenwich who grew up here. He not only went through the entire school system, he also worked for EG Rec while a teenager in town. His first date was at the Greenwich Theater, now called the Greenwich Odeum.

His parents still live in the house near Meadowbrook where he grew up, and siblings and their families still gather there for dinner on Sunday evenings. His two older brothers still live locally, as well – one lives near downtown and coaches the high school hockey team; the other, more far-flung, moved all the way to Cowesett.

He even married a local girl, Susan Cameron Kiernan. They have three kids together: Patrick, 5, Maeve, 3, and Quinn is 14-months-old.

"Susan and I both grew up here and we want our kids to be able to grow up here as well," Kiernan said.