Candidate Q&A: Mick Meyer

What makes you the best candidate for City Council?

The city’s budget is approaching $1 billion. I have 25+ years of experience managing the finance and accounting departments of large corporations. My goals are to provide great schools, competitive salaries for our teachers and public safety personnel, manage property taxes to avoid forcing our senior citizens out of their homes, and develop solutions to resolve our traffic problems.

What should be the city's top priority now, and how can it be achieved?

Growing the business base, to help keep property taxes low and to fund our schools and public safety needs. Suffolk has been able to improve its business base by teaming with the Joint Forces Command. Those are good paying jobs. Chesapeake needs to develop more high technology centers and team with ODU’s computer simulation center.

What do you think will be the city's most pressing issue in 10 years, and how can the city prepare for it?

Most of the same issues as we’ve had the last 10 years remain as key issues for the next 10 years. Education, public safety, and quality of life (includes green space preservation, parks and recreation, drainage, and transportation) are all number one issues.

How do you respond to complaints that city leaders put developers’ interests ahead of residents’ needs?

We need to be careful to match the growth of new neighborhoods with roads and schools. As growth slows during the next several years, we have the opportunity to reduce crowding in our high schools and find ways of decreasing the traffic congestion.

Cite one vote by a majority of City Council that you disagreed with in the past year and why.

The Virginia General Assembly failed to develop a state-wide transportation solution, then forced the local governments into ratifying the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority . The last thing we need is another expensive, unelected, layer of government. I would not have voted to ratify the HRTA. I have a plan that could provide workable funding sources for our transportation projects.

Should the city and state raise more money to pay for transportation projects? If yes, how?

The General Assembly needs to step up and fund the projects now. The city needs to focus on property tax relief, education and public safety. The Commonwealth can fund most of the trans-portation projects through a gas tax. The proposed third crossing via Craney Island should be funded by Virginia Port Authority revenue bonds and tolls. I am opposed to tolls on I-64 and Dominion Boulevard.