Geoghan Coogan unopposed for seat father held
When Geoghan Coogan took out his nomination papers in March to run for Tisbury selectman in the April 28 annual town election, he thought he would at the least be up against incumbent Denys Wortman. However, learning that Mr. Coogan was running, Mr. Wortman subsequently announced he would not seek reelection to a second term and would support Mr. Coogan instead.
"When you get a good person, and especially someone that can serve the town for maybe many years to come, you want to encourage that," Mr. Wortman said at the March 5 Tisbury selectmen's meeting. Since no one else took out papers, Mr. Coogan will be the lone candidate for selectman on next week's ballot.
Geoghan Coogan. Photo by Ralph Stewart
If there is such a thing as a selectman's gene, Mr. Coogan may very well be carrying it. His father, Edmond G. Coogan, a well-respected Vineyard Haven attorney, was a selectman in Oak Bluffs before moving to Tisbury where he was a selectman until his death in 2001. His uncle, Greg Coogan currently serves as an Oak Bluffs selectman.
Although Mr. Coogan was born in Oak Bluffs, he spent most of his childhood growing up in Tisbury after his family moved to Crocker Avenue when he was in third grade.
Mr. Coogan received a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Michael's College in Vermont in 1994. He went on to attend Suffolk Law School. During his second year there, his father died.
Mr. Coogan decided to keep his father's Vineyard law practice going. Over the next year and a half, until he finished law school and passed the bar exam, he traveled back and forth from Boston to the Vineyard to oversee the law office. He moved back to the Vineyard full-time in 2002 after law school.
Mr. Coogan and his wife, Catherine, married in May 2003. They have three children. John, almost five, starts kindergarten at Tisbury School next fall. Daughters Jane and Emily, 17 months old, are "wreaking as much havoc as one would expect from twin toddlers," he said.
His sister Nell Coogan, also an attorney, is Martha's Vineyard's legislative liaison for state Representative Tim Madden.
This week The Martha's Vineyard Times asked Mr. Coogan to provide email responses to four questions:
Why did you decide to run for selectman?
I've been thinking about running for a few years now. From a personal standpoint the timing was just not right until now. However, my family instilled in me a real sense of obligation to give back to the town that I grew up in, and Martha's Vineyard in general.
My father in particular, made sure that we, his family, were aware of the need to become involved with the community in which we live and work. As an attorney and someone who understands the importance of having town officials who will listen to and address the issues facing the citizens, I believe I will be of assistance to the town of Tisbury and its citizens as selectman.
What is your position on the sale of beer and wine in Tisbury restaurants?
Now that the town has voted to bring the petition for the sale of beer and wine to the State for review, and potentially to the ballot next April, my position is that if the sale of beer and wine is approved in the town of Tisbury, that we have the proper regulations in place.
In a general sense I believe the sale of beer and wine in the town could give a much-needed boost to our commercial businesses. I have seen firsthand the wilting of the business community in Tisbury. If the town votes to allow the sale of beer and wine, and if it is regulated properly, this may be the shot in the arm that helps all businesses, not just restaurants, in our town.
Please outline some of your solutions to control costs and restrain the tax burden placed on town property owners.
I do not have any immediate solutions for cutting costs and taxes for property owners in the town of Tisbury. Relief from taxes and public costs is the first thing people think about in tough economic times, when everyone is working just to pay their bills. However, we also must remember that there are major consequences to providing large-scale relief from taxes and public costs.
Our school system is the best, our department of public works does a fantastic job with keeping our town infrastructure solid, and our fire and police departments are very sound. We have to balance any relief that benefits the individual with the costs of providing that relief to the town and the services it offers to our citizens. We have the best treasurer on Martha's Vineyard. My job is going to be to work with the other selectmen and our treasurer to find ways of relieving tax and other pressures, while still keeping our core services operating at a high level.
Looming town expenses include a new emergency services facility, a connector road between Edgartown-Vineyard Haven and State Road, unfunded liabilities for town employees' other post-retirement benefits (OPEB) and future expansion of the wastewater system. Given the economic climate, what should Tisbury's priorities be?
I think every project that comes in front of this town has to be looked at carefully, with an eye toward whether or not it is a necessity as well as the fiscal constraints facing us at this time. We also have to consider funds already set aside or available to the town, potential grants under the new Federal administration, and the costs of borrowing. This can actually be a very advantageous time to get some of these larger cost items completed. We have to be careful, but we cannot cast aside projects out of fear. If pressed to prioritize, I would say that the emergency facilities building is probably number one for me.
