Meyer says experience will help him in executive post
TROY, N.Y. » Thirteen years ago, nowDeputy County Executive
Chris Meyer was hired by County Executive Kathleen Jimino. At that time, Meyer said, he promised his boss that he would work for the county for a couple years, but that all changed once he became more involved in the community.
“When I started, I promised I’d stay for two years — she asked me and I said I could guarantee two years — and it drew me in,” said Meyer during a recent interview.
Meyer is a Republican candidate in the county executive primary race on Sept. 12, when he will go up against Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, R-Troy.
Meyer, 42, was originally hired by Jimino in 2004 and he served as her press officer until 2009, when he also took on the duties of being an assistant to Jimino. In 2010, Jimino appointed Meyer to his current position as deputy county executive.
Once Jimino made the announcement
earlier in the year that she would not seek a fifth fouryear term, she immediately endorsed Meyer to succeed her role.
Meyer, R- Grafton, grew up in the town of Halfmoon and attended Mechanicville High School, before moving to Rensselaer County in the late 1990s. Before working in county government, Meyer earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Environment Studies from Siena College. While in college, Meyer served as a legislative intern with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. After earning his degree, Meyer went on to work in the New York State Senate Office of Constituents Relations until he began working under Jimino in 2004. Meyer is involved in the Troy Business Improvement Board, NYSRifle andPistol Association, Pioneer Fish and Game Club and serves as the chairman of the Republican Committee in Grafton.
Meyer said that after becoming so involved in all of the communities around the county he began to see how rewarding the job duties were. “I truly enjoy working in county government. It’s a level of government where you have interactions with the residents, and it’s a great deal of responsibilities — there’s a lot of challenges — but it’s great work,” said Meyer. “Every day I get to go to the office and potentially have a positive impact on somebody’s life, whether I’m helping someone or putting in a new program to make county government better, you can really see the benefits of your work.”
Meyer believes his experience working alongside Jimino will be beneficial for him in the election and he touted several programs that he helped implement and run in the county currently.
Meyer mentioned things like his role in designing and effecting changes in departmental operations, as well as negotiating with local municipalities and other counties for mutually beneficial programs that help keep local costs down. Meyer also oversees the county’s energy efficiency programs, which are projected to save millions of dollars in coming years, and chairs the county’s Public Safety Communication Enhancement Design Committee, which is overseeing the design and implementation of new, countywide emergency communication systems for police, fire, and emergency medical services, which came under budget by millions of dollars.
“I’m proud of our state-ofthe-art communications system, the redesign of our welfare fraud unit — we just redid that whole unit and they are making some great arrests with that,” explained Meyer. “Our projects with Monolith and Siemens are energy performances contracts; we’re trying to reduce expenses and lessen our carbon footprint. We’re really proud to have been able to modernize many of our facilities in a cost effective manner.” Meyer did note that as county executive he would work on improving some minor things within the county, such as trying to get response times decreased for emergency calls in some towns across the county.
“We do need to focus on trying address some of those needs out there in communities and getting response times down and getting ambulances to locations faster,” explained Meyer. Meyer feels he has learned a lot from his outgoing boss and he feels confident enough to continue most of the work that they have done together in county government. “I got to learn fromsomeonewho really put her heart and soul into the job, who loves serving her community as county executive and I consider her to be a great role model,” said Meyer. “[Jimino] really set a path for me that I’ve really enjoyed, it’s been a wonderful experience and I’m look- ing to continue that work. I’d like to think that with me as the county executive that it would be a smooth transition since I know the job and I’ve been doing the job for the last seven years and with the local county for the last thirteen years, so I know what the county offers now, as far as programs and services and I also see where I think weneed to go. I believe that we’ve done a very good job, but there’s always room for improvement and we strive to improve here everyday.” Meyer and McLaughlin will face off in a primary race on Sept. 12. Democratic candidate Andrea Smyth is set to be on the ballot in the general election in November. Wayne Foy is also running for the position as Green Party candidate.