Jerry Tracey, president and founder of Tracey Road Equipment, with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
On July 30, United States Rep. Elise Stefanik, representing New York State's 21st District, visited the Queensbury, N.Y., branch of Tracey Road Equipment.
During her visit to Tracey Road Equipment, Stefanik met with Jerry and Debbie Tracey, owners of Tracey Road Equipment; Christine Julka, director of marketing; Rajan Julka, director of systems and operations; Nathan Julka; other key employees and Michael Murray, the Northeast regional manager of AED.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik with Michael Murray, Northeast regional manager of AED.
Stefanik was provided background information on the size and scope of Tracey Road Equipment's operation, and the meeting also provided an opportunity to discuss how AED policy proposals such as the Infrastructure Bill would directly impact Tracey Road Equipment and its employees. Also reviewed were AED's primary legislative priorities, including infrastructure, taxes, workforce storage and trade. Following the meeting, Stefanik took a tour of Tracey Road Equipment's facility and greeted numerous employees, taking the time to listen to any concerns or praises that they had to offer.
Jerry Tracey expressed to Stefanik his support for the business and tax policies that have been coming out of Washington since President Trump's election, noting that his business as well as his customer's business have experienced upticks from the day Trump was sworn in.
Dick Ridings, director of finance of Tracey Road Equipment, reaffirmed that virtually all aspects of Tracey Road Equipment's customer base from the construction, scrap, timber, landscape and heavy highway industries have been prospering under the current economic climate.
A growing industry concern that was discussed with the Congresswoman is the challenges that equipment distributors and contractors are having in hiring skilled technicians and laborers.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik took the time to meet with individual employees of Tracey Road Equipment and give them a chance to voice any concerns or praise that they may have.
With Stefanik's position on the Committee on Education and Labor both Tracey and Murray each requested a larger focus from the federal government to support additional funding, especially in high schools, for vocational training. They each asked that the federal government do more to expand the message that there are great jobs with strong earning potential in the trade industries that have immediate openings that the right young person can get qualified for without taking on hundreds of thousands of dollars in higher education debt.
In response Stefanik stressed that her office is working with educational facilities, both on the high school level and with north country community colleges, to come together with employers and manufacturers to develop curriculums that will specifically develop the skills that local employers are looking for.
In discussing the federal highway bill as proposed by AED, Stefanik stated that she has supported federal highway and infrastructure bills in the past even when they were unpopular among her constituents. She did, however, express a concern that not enough federal highway and infrastructure money is being funneled towards rural areas like her district in northern New York State. She voiced that there should be some mechanism in place to assure that metropolitan areas are not disproportionately benefiting from the funding.
New York State's 21st District encompasses most of northern New York State, including Plattsburgh, Glens Falls, Watertown and Gouverneur. In the 116th Congress, Stefanik serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the Committee on Education and Labor, as well as the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
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