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The City Administrator for Beacon is a position that is responsible for knowing about every nook and cranny about the City, and managing the City’s projects and intentions. Without a City Administrator, Beacon would have a hard time functioning. The former Administrator, Anthony Ruggiero, had been with Beacon for 5 years, and gave his notice at the end of 2020 that he would be taking a new position as Assistant Commissioner for Administration with the Dutchess County Department of Behavioral & Community Health.

Background On Beacon’s City Administrators

When Anthony came to Beacon, he stepped away from an administrator position in Peekskill, where he reportedly had a “tumultuous” experience with the Peekskill Mayor Frank Catalina. Mayor Catalina took issue with a settlement for a suspended police officer that Anthony approved, according to reporting in the Poughkeepsie Journal. “‘The City of Peekskill is a council-manager form of government,’ said Ruggiero in that article in 2015, “which is a ‘weak-mayor’ form of government where the city manager handles hiring and firing,” he said. “Beacon, on the other hand, is a mayor-council, or ‘strong-mayor,’ form of government,” he said.

According to quotes from the mayors of Peekskill and of Beacon (then-Mayor Randy Casale) in the Poughkeepsie Journal, Anthony was encouraged out by Mayor Catalina, who introduced Civil Service-type rules to find disqualifications regarding whether Anthony was qualified for the job, which included having a college degree, having at least 3 years managerial experience, and living in Peekskill.

According to the article, Anthony was given a deadline to move to Peekskill, when he lived in Fishkill. When Anthony took the job in Beacon 5 years ago (Beacon does not have a rule where the Administrator needs to live in the city), he nevertheless worked very close to work, with a 5-minute commute, according to the article. Anthony went on to have a successful career in Beacon, shepherding it through many projects and the spending of improvement grants on the City’s infrastructure.

Civil Service Rules As Foundation For Employment Shifts

Anthony is no stranger to a city employee being pushed out of a job position due to Civil Service rules. He was the City Administrator when Reuben Simmons, a longtime employee with the Highway Department who is of mixed race and identifies as Black, was promoted to the Highway Superintendent position. He was recommended for that post by Anthony, according to Reuben, who stated that in a podcast.

After a stint in that position, someone disagreed, and found disqualifications in Reuben’s position when it was determined that Beacon actually had a Supervisor of Streets position, and not Superintendent, which required a different Civil Service test and management qualifications. Reuben was demoted back to a maintenance position after a process involving Dutchess County, Beacon’s City Council, and a letter anonymously delivered to the front porch of a Beacon councilperson from the Highway Department.

At the time, Anthony replaced Acting Administrator Timothy Dextor, who was a volunteer firefighter for the City of Beacon, and Building Inspector until he retired a few years ago, after a long history of aggressive fire code zoning and enforcement, and a dramatic sign battle with a business owner who hung a resist white supremacy sign, and a community of Airbnb owners who feared his code enforcement if they did not invest in fire-safety code requirements.

Enter Chris White As Beacon’s Newest City Administrator

After Anthony gave notice, Beacon Mayor Lee Kyriacou went through a hiring process and appointed Chris White, a former city councilperson for Beacon in Ward 3 from 1996-1997, with whom Mayor Kyriacou served years ago.

Chris told the Beacon Free Press in mid-February: “Serving on the Council also was the start of my career in public service, so my years in Beacon were a formative time for me.” Formerly, Chris had been the Deputy Director in the Ulster County Planning Department. Mayor Kyriacou has praised Chris’ management of land projects for infrastructure, development, and acting on the side of the natural environment.

According to the Highlands Current, Chris spent 10 years managing a district office for Rep. Maurice Hinchey, and holds a bachelor’s degree in politics from New York University and a master’s degree in public administration from SUNY Albany. He told the Beacon Free Press that serving as Beacon’s City Administrator was his goal job: “When I earned a Master of Public Administration degree more than a decade ago, my intent was to work towards being a City Manager. When the opening came up in Beacon, I thought it was worth leaving my position in Ulster County, particularly because of my familiarity with and fondness for Beacon and my prior experience here as a City Councilmember.”

According to Mayor Kyriacou, he screened over 30 applicants and felt the best with Chris. The Mayor had worked with Chris before in Beacon, during Chris’ councilperson days. “Chris stood out because of his planning and project expertise, his regional knowledge, and his genuine passion for Beacon,” the mayor told viewer-attendees during a City Council meeting.

Chris is known for being involved with stopping the construction of a proposed sewage sludge incinerator, telling the Beacon Free Press: “[My time on Council] was a time of transition for the community and for me personally. Beacon was sorely in need of revitalization when I was on Council in the mid-1990s and Main Street was dominated by vacant and underutilized properties. Some of the zoning changes and decisions made during my time on Council boosted early revitalization efforts.”

Since coming on board, Mayor Kyriacou, known for delegation of administrative tasks and responsibility, has taken action to give Chris as much administrative authority as possible. For example, during the 2/1/2021 City Council Meeting, after discussing “Resolution Authorizing City Administrator Christopher White as the Primary Log-In Holder for the City of Beacon Equitable Business Opportunities (EBO) Account,” the Mayor asked the City’s Attorney, Nick Ward-Willis, to draft a law “describing the nature of our government that we can provide to somebody that says something like: “The City Administrator can actually do this… You don’t need to go to the Mayor for… whatever, like taking title to a vehicle… It arises every so often, and it’s usually the dumb reasons, not the really good ones.”