BY ADAM ATKINSON

North Country This Week

POTSDAM — John Meyers hopes to draw on his decades of years experience working at and running small businesses in the region if elected to the Potsdam town council.

Meyers is running on the Republican and Conservative lines.

Also running are Republican and Conservative Renee Azzopardi and Allyssa Theobald Hardiman and Lynn Hall, both of whom are running on the Sensible Peoples Party line.

Meyers first came to Potsdam in 1981 to attend Clarkson University where he graduated with a BS ECE degree in 1983 and a masters degree in management science in 1991.

“I stayed after graduating, and I’ve worked at a number of small businesses since,” Meyers said.

He currently runs a number of AirBnBs in the region and is the owner of TaxiZero, the last remaining taxi service in the town.

During his time in Potsdam, however, he was one of the members of the original start up team for SLIC Communications, and was the marketing manager at the Nicholville Telephone Company.

“My main reason for running is that we need to swim against the stream here in Potsdam. We need to grow our area,” Meyers said.

Meyers said the town needs to take advantage of the unintentional marketing that having a regional vaccination hub at SUNY Potsdam provided. He said people from all over the state and country came here to get their vaccination.

“They stayed at our place and used my taxi to get around. Now they are  here looking for places to live,” he said.

While many people call for lowering taxes, Meyers says the town budget is already operating on a “shoestring” so the alternative is that you have to grow the economy by attracting people to the area to buy property and open new businesses.

Meyers said one of the ways to attract those businesses and new residents who work remotely is to build out the high bandwidth network. While the issue is more of a state problem, the town can form a coalition with other small communities to lobby the state to expand the local broadband.  

While the loss of the potential of LC Drives, he points out that the town still has Ducted Wind Turbines and large talent pool that could generate other startup businesses.

“But I think tackling this bandwidth issue is key with what we can do at the local level,” he said. “This is how we hang on to our brain trust.” Meyers said if elected he would like to build on the positives of the area, namely the quality of life here.

“The quality of life is why people want to come here,” he said. That includes the local healthcare expansion, excellent public safety and the diversity of the population.

In the area of environmental issues, Meyers said one thing he would like to see is a tax break incentive created for local businesses to install high speed electric vehicle chargers. Not only would it help the environment, while lowering taxes for local businesses, it would also help attract new people to the region.