Election 2023: First Selectman Kevin Moynihan Announces Re-Election Bid [Q&A]

New Canaan’s highest elected official will seek the backing of the Republican Party and re-election this fall. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, elected as head of the town in 2017 following four years on the Town Council, announced Wednesday that he’s seeking a fourth term. He joins GOPers Dionna Carlson and Kimberly Norton, both of whom announced their intention to seek backing from New Canaan Republicans at the July 25 caucus. We put some questions to Moynihan. Here’s our exchange.

New Canaanite: What is your background professionally and in terms of living and volunteering here in New Canaan?

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. Contributed

Kevin Moynihan: I was initially elected First Selectman in 2017 on a platform of improving cellular phone service, addressing the then-perceived need for more commuter parking, ensuring financial integrity and transparency in government and supporting funding to maintain excellence in our public schools. I am very proud of all that we’ve accomplished in the last 5 ½ years.

New Canaan has been my home for 42 years, having moved from Chicago with my wife Mim and our two young children. Our children were raised here and attended New Canaan Public Schools. We fell in love with New Canaan. Our lives were blessed as communicants of St. Aloysius R.C. Church and as members of the Field Club and the Country Club of New Canaan.

I commuted to Wall Street for 29 years and enjoyed a successful and very satisfying career as a corporate attorney with global investments banks. In 2009, after 18 years of service as a Managing Director and senior counsel with Merrill Lynch & Co. I retired at age 59. 

In retirement, I began to volunteer for charitable boards including the New Canaan Community Foundation and Getabout Inc. I also served the community as a member of the Exchange Club and the Republican Town Committee. 

As a graduate of Georgetown University and Boston College Law School I learned and embraced the Jesuit ideal of service to others. I decided to get involved in town government to give back to our community. In 2013, I was elected to a four-year term on the Town Council where I focused mainly on the problem of poor cellular phone service and also co-authored ordinances creating the Town Audit Committee and the Ethics Board, two significant bodies focused on the Town’s financial integrity and ethical values in government service.

As first selectman, I have been a creative problem solver and I have brought to bear my 35 years of training and experience as an attorney almost each and every day. 

Why are you running for re-election as first selectman?

I believe my legal knowledge and judgment has been and will be especially useful as we continue to deal with recent proposals by one developer for over-development in the name of adding a relatively few units to our affordable housing stock. New Canaan has done an excellent job of re-building and building new quality government-supported affordable housing over the last 15 years and we will continue to do so.

I feel we have accomplished so much together during my administration. I look forward to continuing my service to our town and completing the work I have pledged to address, all supported by a collaborative team of Selectmen, members of boards and commissions, a dedicated Town Hall staff and all the volunteers in our community who make the town work. I’m more excited than ever about the future of our special town. Thank you for trusting me to serve as your First Selectman and know that I’ll continue to work tirelessly to make New Canaan the best town to call home. I respectfully ask my fellow Republicans for your support and your votes on July 25^th at the Caucus.

Among our many accomplishments over my first three terms, the following lists ten of the most significant:

1. Successfully Led the Town through the Covid-19 Pandemic: As First Selectman, I successfully led our talented team of health professionals and first responders, together with Superintendent Bryan Luizzi, to support our residents, our students, our teachers and Town employees, our seniors and our local businesses though the Covid-19 pandemic. I believe we did the job better than any other city or town in Connecticut. We were disciplined, courageous and wise. Importantly, we kept our students learning and we kept our local businesses thriving. And we gave our NCHS seniors a football season when most area towns didn’t.
2. Successfully Brought Natural Gas to Schools, Town Buildings, Village businesses and Many Downtown Residents: Even before becoming First Selectman, I made the call to Eversource Gas in January 2017 to invite them back to the table to bring natural gas to New Canaan. As a result, Eversource Gas invested more than $30 million in laying pipeline in our community bringing natural gas to several Town buildings, four of our five schools, many businesses and hundreds of single family homes and condos in the downtown area. This will produce millions of dollars of savings for taxpayers, homeowners and businesses in the future.
3. Made Significant Progress in Improving Cellular Service in Parts of Town: In 2016, it was estimated that only 40% of town residents had reliable cell phone service. In August 2016, the Town chose Homeland Towers pursuant to an RFP to make a plan to improve cell service by adding more cell tower infrastructure especially in the North, West and East sides of town. In 2022, a cell tower on private residential property at 183 Soundview Lane was activated with AT&T (and Verizon has just been activated as well). In December, 2022, the CT Siting Council approved a new public safety/cell tower on private property at 1837 Ponus Ridge Road and construction of the tower is expected to begin in the next few months. The Town needs to find solutions to adding more cellular infrastructure on the West and East sides of town and I will work collaboratively with our newly authorized Utilities Commission to find the best choices for New Canaan.
4. Supported Town and School Buildings Maintenance and ADA Improvements: As First Selectman, I have supported fully funding Town and School buildings maintenance and making improvements required to make all buildings fully compliant with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards so that buildings are safe, healthy and accessible to all. We have invested in new roofs for Town and Schools as well as new boilers and emergency generators. We are in the process of “renovating-as-new” our 40-year-old Police Station on South Avenue while preserving the historic character to the 90+ year old building. In 2022, I led an effort to purchase the first floor of a modern office building at 220 Elm Street to make a permanent home for the BOE Administration Offices and the Launch and Alternative education programs, ending our 30-year practice of renting space from a private landlord.
5. Made New Canaan More Sustainable with Solar and Combined Heat and Power: As First Selectman, I led the effort to bring solar energy to five town buildings and all five schools, making New Canaan a more sustainable community. In addition, with natural gas now available, I led the effort to bring Combined Heat and Power facilities to five town buildings and schools saving money on both heating and electricity.
6. Supported Public-Private Partnerships for Waveny Park and New Canaan Athletics: As First Selectman, I fostered the development of Waveny Park Conservancy (which I inspired creation of as a Town Council member in 2015) and of the New Canaan Athletic Foundation as public private partnerships. I successfully secured annual capital appropriations to match investments in Waveny Park by the Conservancy and in Dunning Stadium and other athletic fields and facilities by the Athletic Foundation.
7. Supported Building of the new New Canaan Library: As First Selectman, I supported the Town’s commitment of a $10 million grant for the construction of the new New Canaan Library and also engineered a cost-saving parking solution for the Library’s use of the under-utilized Center School parking lot for Library patron parking. Even before becoming First Selectman, as a member of the Town Council, I helped the Library acquire a parcel of property on South Avenue that was essential to the Library proceeding with its building plan. I continue to try to find a way to move the Gulf station across town to enable a better plan for preservation of the 1913 Library building as a usable feature of the new Library Green.
8. Supported New Canaan Non Profits with Federal ARPA Funds to Recover from COVID: As First Selectman, I supported the allocation of almost $3 million of Federal ARPA grant funds to 30 New Canaan non-profits to recover from the after effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Included in this were funds to develop the New Canaan Urgent Assessment Program at Silver Hill Hospital, a new Telemedicine program at Waveny LifeCare Network and an energy-saving Combined Heat and Power project at the New Canaan YMCA in conjunction with the Y becoming a shelter facility for the Town in emergencies.
9. Preservation of The Playhouse: As First Selectman, I led the effort to find a way to preserve and re-open The Playhouse as a first-run movie theater. An entrepreneurial company from New Jersey named CinemaLab has partnered with private New Canaan investors and the Town to help restore and reopen the theater later in 2023 in time for the building’s 100th anniversary.
10. 10.Open Space and Historic Preservation: As First Selectman, I transferred responsibility for stewardship of Bristow Bird Sanctuary to the Conservation Commission which produced a five-year master plan with annual capital appropriations to restore Bristow a wildlife preserve in downtown. Working with the New Canaan Land Trust, we also were able to protect the Grupes House on Valley Road from demolition. We have just recently succeeded in helping the Land Trust to acquire the Grupes House and two additional acres of open space from the Norwalk Water Company to conjoin it with the Land Trust’s adjacent 10-acre Brown Preserve.

What do you view as the biggest issues facing New Canaan?

New Canaan is fortunate to not have many problems that need to be fixed, but I believe that reliable cell service is a major problem that we must address if we are to be a modern and safe town. For nine years, I have sought to improve our cell service in as unobtrusive ways as possible for the safety of our residents and our first responders, but now we face the challenge of missing out on the 5G evolution of cell service for parts of town if we do not as a community come together to find the right solutions to add additional cellular infrastructure.

How would you describe your management style?

My management style is based on my 18 years work experience at Merrill Lynch. At Merrill Lynch, meetings were held regularly at all levels of the organization to share information, discuss solutions to problems/issues or new products and learn views and perspectives of colleagues. In Town Hall, we similarly have regular meetings of committees and groups, such as:

• Monday morning Planning Meeting of senior managers; 
• Weekly Communications Committee meetings to coordinate website info updates, press releases and social media push outs of Town events, News, DPW road work, etc.; 
• Monthly Department Managers meetings to share information from Finance, HR, and among Departments, 
• Monthly Risk Management meetings with those involved with insurance and accident issues, including DPW, Police, Fire, etc.;
• There are several other specialized committees such as Safety, Special Events, ADA Committee, Land Use, etc.
• Occasional Town Hall All-Employee meetings or social events (Summer Party, Holiday Party) to bring all employees together to share information and socialize. 

These meetings are all about transparency, collaboration, empowering others and making sure that lines of communication are open.

Finally, tell us something about yourself that many New Canaanites likely don’t know. 

I have the distinction of being the person who brought the Grateful Dead to their first-time performance on the East Coast in October 1970 as Chair of Georgetown University Homecoming Weekend.