Michael Isaacs, Republican for Town Council

by | Oct 29, 2014

Michael Isaacs has served on the EG Town Council for the past 10 years. By town charter, he is eligible to serve one more term and he thinks its important that he does, especially he is the only current councilman running for reelection.

“I want to run one more time to continue the initiatives we have under way and, with four new members coming in, I think it’s important to have someone there to provide leadership,” he said in an interview Monday.

Isaacs, 67, is a lawyer and lobbyist.

He touts the structural changes that have been made in town government since he came into office, including the consolidation of the school, fire and town finance departments – “We were the first or second community in the state to do that” – and consolidation of things like fields maintenance and trash collection.

“Those may sound small but they have made a difference to control costs and manage things effectively,” he said.

The biggest consolidation, of course, came with the merger of the EG Fire District (which had been a completely separate municipal entity) into the town in June 2013.

“We’ve seen savings and gotten rid of a separate tax,” he said, noting that instead of two lawyers and two auditing firms, we now have just one. The lawyer and auditing firm are paid more now, but “not nearly as much as two separate ones,” he said.

Isaacs said he recognized affordability was an issue in town.

“We have to make this an affordable community,” he said. “We want to be able to have our children live here and retirees stay here. That’s why we’ve worked so hard at making structural changes that will save money in the long run and will make a difference in our fundamental tax structure.”

Isaacs is proud of the good working relationship the Town Council has with the School Committee and points to the school building projects undertaken in the past decade as a sign of that.

He said, too, the completion of a new police station, the renovated Swift Community Center and the creation of Scalloptown Park were other building projects he’s proud of – noting they were all completed “on time and under budget.”

As he mentioned at the EG News Candidates Forum Oct. 16, there may be good news on the horizon with regard to the former Bostitch facility on South County Trail.

“I’m very confident that that building is going to be renovated and it would have multiple tenants,” Isaacs explained, saying the council had been talking to a developer. “The usage would not be manufacturing but more office space, which would result in increased employment, increased property value and because it would be office, the office equipment would be taxable.”

To watch Isaacs and the other seven other Town Council candidates, here’s a link to videos from the EG News Candidates Forum Oct. 16 at New England Tech.

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