Terry Niebel

For 50 years, Terry Niebel has been involved in Chautauqua County government, either as an employee or as an elected official.

He has decided to retire and is walking away on his own terms.

Niebel was elected to the Chautauqua County legislature in the fall of 2013.

But before that, he was the county Republican Election Commissioner, a position he held starting in 1981 until he retired 28 years later.

He decided not to run for re-election in 2025.

Niebel actually started as a county employee back in 1975 as an account clerk in the Finance Department.

Three years later Niebel was working in the Office for The Aging as an administrative aide. While he was in that department, he developed a friendship with the Republican Board of Elections Commissioner George Caccamise and his deputy Ruth Smith. “I used to take coffee breaks with them and we would quite frankly, talk politics and I learned about the Board of Elections and stuff. They were good friends of mine,” Niebel said.

Niebel was familiar with local politics, having served on a county legislative campaign in 1977 as well as Jack Glenzer’s campaign for state Assembly in 1978.

In 1980 Caccamise unexpectedly passed away. “He was actually chairing one of the committees for the state Election Commissioners Association and he died during a committee meeting,” Niebel said.

His death created a vacancy. Niebel said Smith encouraged him to run for the Board of Elections, but he ended up losing to Cliff Cliver, a person that Niebel continued to be friends with even after losing.

Soon afterward, Cliver stepped down from that position to run for county executive. “Before he made the public announcement, he told me a week before. I was working in the Office For the Aging. I immediately took two weeks vacation and went around and saw probably 230 or 240 out of the 264 Republican committee people,” he said.

When the county Republicans had their convention to select the next Election Commissioner, there were four candidates, including Niebel. “I ended up getting over 50% of the vote on the first ballot and winning,” he said.

LEGISLATIVE CAREER

After Niebel retired from the Board of Elections, he said he was approached by Glenzer and Larry Wilcox and was asked to run for the county legislature. “They thought I would do a good job on the legislature because I had served in county government,” he said.

Some other Republicans in his legislative district were seeking either a farmer or a small business owner. Niebel owns a real estate business and had at that time 10 acres of grapes that he farmed, so he fit that criteria as well.

One of the items Niebel is proud of is his involvement in the Government Reduction Initiative. “I wrote the GRI and I talked to (then County Legislator George) Borrello. He liked the idea of reducing layers of government so he co-sponsored it with me and we got it through the legislature,” he said.

The Government Reduction Initiative was first introduced in 2017 and was designed to offer financial assistance to municipalities looking to dissolve.

Earlier this year, County Executive PJ Wendel highlighted the GRI, offering more funds and expanding it to agencies outside of municipalities.

Niebel supports Wendel’s current push for further reduction. “We need to reduce the layers of government here in Chautauqua County,” he said.

When Niebel was first elected, he said the county’s fund balance was at about 5.5%. Today it’s around 11.5%.

The tax rate rate was much higher as well. In 2014, Niebel said it was $9.13 per $1,000 assessed valuation. The 2026 budget has a tax rate of $6.17 per $1,000 assessed valuation.

“I am proud of the fact that I’ve been a fiscal conservative when it comes to the budget,” Niebel said. “I think that’s a good thing that we’ve been able to reduce it. I really think the county is in a healthy fiscal position.”

Niebel also is proud that they were able to offer property tax exemption for volunteer firefighters and ambulance drivers during his time.

In 2023, the state changed the law to allow local, county and school districts to give a 10% discount to volunteer firefighters for their property taxes. The legislation is written so that someone will have to have served either two or five years in a fire department before being eligible. Municipalities can also give a lifetime discount for those who have 20 years of service.

“I think that was beneficial. If we don’t have our volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers, that’s going to be a tremendous cost to local taxpayers,” Niebel said.

Niebel was a volunteer of the Sheridan Fire Department for 28 years, including serving as an Emergency Medical Technician.

Because of Niebel’s experience as a volunteer firefighter, Niebel became the chairman of the legislature’s Public Safety Committee.

During his 12 years in the legislature he only missed one official meeting of the full legislature. That was a special meeting in October, 2024. It was scheduled for them to vote on the Republican Election Commissioner, but Niebel’s wife was in the hospital so he couldn’t make it, as he was by her side.

She died a couple of days later. “In my case, family comes first. It should for everybody,” he said.

REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATS

Niebel noted that when he was in high school Republicans dominated the political landscape.

When he was in college, Democrats took over county government, with the election of Joseph Gerace as county executive. “In the early ’70s, Democrats controlled the government for at least 10 or 12 years,” he said.

Then it appeared that Republicans and Democrats traded power every few years. “It was always close,” Niebel said.

When Niebel was elected in 2014, he believes they had a “qualified group of candidates” who worked hard and got elected. “Once you get elected, you do have the advantage of the incumbency,” he said.

Today, Republicans control the legislature, as well as have the offices of Sheriff, District Attorney, County Executive, County Court Judge and Clerk.

He also has served as the chairman of the Sheridan Town Republican Party for 45 years.

FUTURE

Niebel would like to see the county legislature and the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency focus on current businesses, helping them grow, not just looking for new industries.

He noted how when Borrello was elected county executive he visited 100 businesses in 100 days. His time was short in that office; two years later, Borrello was elected to the state senate.

Niebel would like to see county leaders continue where Borrello left off. “Go back to those businesses and other businesses in Chautauqua County and talk to them. Some of these businesses employ 10 people. See what it would take to go to 20. Or if they employ 20 people, what would it take to get them to go to 50? How can the county help our local businesses, because these businesses are already here. They’re here in Chautauqua County. They’re used to dealing with state rules and regulations. I just think that should be something that we should fully pursue,” he said.

Niebel is also concerned about dairy and grape farmers, to make sure they are stable. “I’m not sure what a hundred weight of milk is going for now, but as far as the grape industry, the grape industry faces challenges because less people are drinking wine and that’s going to affect our grape industry and our wine industry,” he said.

Niebel hopes local municipalities will be open-minded when it comes to dissolution and merging. “We don’t need as many villages as we have. We might not need as many towns as we do. But it’s got to be from the ground up. It’s got to be the people wanting to either consolidate or dissolve. The county can’t force people to do that,” he said.

Niebel would like to see the county talk to the local elected leaders and activists to help them see the advantage of lowering the levels of government.

He believes that will help lower taxes, as well as have more people available to run for political office. “Right now, I’m concerned because we don’t have a lot of people that are willing to run for public office. And I get it; there’s a lot of things going on, but you need good people for office in order to have good government,” Niebel said.

Niebel also expresses concern about the direction of New York state. “Some of the really woke policies coming out of Albany, I just don’t know that Albany is making it easy for people who are retired or slightly center right on the political spectrum to remain here,” he said.

He notes how he is a gun owner and many of his neighbors and friends own guns as well. “It just seems like there’s more and more restrictions on gun ownership coming out of Albany,” he said.

He also disagrees with how the state budget is spent. “I see more and more of our state money going to New York City to house, feed, clothe and educate and provide healthcare for illegal immigrants. I’m fed up with that. It shouldn’t be that way. Our state taxes and our county taxes should be for our citizens, not for people who come here just for our benefits,” he said.

When asked if he would ever consider moving out of state, Niebel chuckled and replied, “I’m looking at some options.”