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Why Keith Kreiser is in the news
After a 34-year career with the Irondequoit Department of Public Works, foreman Keith Kreiser’s last day on the job was Friday, Jan. 20.
He started working for the town, then as a laborer in the town’s onetime sewer department on Pattonwood Drive, in late 1977.
“I worked from the town’s sewers, literally, up to where I am today,” Kreiser said with a characteristic smile. He retired as the town’s auto mechanic foreman.
Background
A fourth-generation Irondequoiter, he studied auto mechanics because his father owned a gas station, “but he told me to go work for the government,” Keith says.
The town’s sewer and highway departments merged in 1986, Kreiser said, and since then he has been taking care of all DPW vehicles and equipment.
Today, his department also services Irondequoit Police Department vehicles, equipment for Irondequoit’s five fire districts and Irondequoit Ambulance, the Sea Breeze Water Authority and vehicles (other than school buses) for the East Irondequoit School District.
“We’ve evolved from just working on highway vehicles to working for other municipal agencies. They contract the work out to us and it’s a lot cheaper for them,” Kreiser said.
While his duties have been “more administrative” as foreman, Kreiser explained, “I still get my hands dirty yet ... And I was out plowing snow last week.”
He was also union president for the town’s supervisory unit for 14 years.
Retirement plans
“I plan to enjoy life ... but I guess that’s what I’ve been doing every day anyway,” Kreiser said.
A retirement party honoring Kreiser is being planned for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9 at the Rochester Yacht Club. Reservations, available by calling Ann at (585) 336-6033, are necessary.
Hobbies and interests
“It used to be Christmas lights,” said Kreiser, who’s simply “Santa” to a certain generation of Irondequoit offspring and their parents.
For years, Kreiser and a neighbor on Doris Road had arguably the best holiday light display in the area. They even went so far as to string lights across their street, connecting their houses. On weekend evenings, he would be outside, dressed as Santa Claus, handing out candy canes to the kids in cars that streamed by.
Kreiser said he also likes to “doll up” cars, explaining that he does all the washing, waxing and polishing by hand, and it’s “relaxing” to him.
He and his wife also enjoy cruises, and have taken about one a year. His favorite destination is Bermuda.
Why Keith Kreiser is in the news
After a 34-year career with the Irondequoit Department of Public Works, foreman Keith Kreiser’s last day on the job was Friday, Jan. 20.
He started working for the town, then as a laborer in the town’s onetime sewer department on Pattonwood Drive, in late 1977.
“I worked from the town’s sewers, literally, up to where I am today,” Kreiser said with a characteristic smile. He retired as the town’s auto mechanic foreman.
Background
A fourth-generation Irondequoiter, he studied auto mechanics because his father owned a gas station, “but he told me to go work for the government,” Keith says.
The town’s sewer and highway departments merged in 1986, Kreiser said, and since then he has been taking care of all DPW vehicles and equipment.
Today, his department also services Irondequoit Police Department vehicles, equipment for Irondequoit’s five fire districts and Irondequoit Ambulance, the Sea Breeze Water Authority and vehicles (other than school buses) for the East Irondequoit School District.
“We’ve evolved from just working on highway vehicles to working for other municipal agencies. They contract the work out to us and it’s a lot cheaper for them,” Kreiser said.
While his duties have been “more administrative” as foreman, Kreiser explained, “I still get my hands dirty yet ... And I was out plowing snow last week.”
He was also union president for the town’s supervisory unit for 14 years.
Retirement plans
“I plan to enjoy life ... but I guess that’s what I’ve been doing every day anyway,” Kreiser said.
A retirement party honoring Kreiser is being planned for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9 at the Rochester Yacht Club. Reservations, available by calling Ann at (585) 336-6033, are necessary.
Hobbies and interests
“It used to be Christmas lights,” said Kreiser, who’s simply “Santa” to a certain generation of Irondequoit offspring and their parents.
For years, Kreiser and a neighbor on Doris Road had arguably the best holiday light display in the area. They even went so far as to string lights across their street, connecting their houses. On weekend evenings, he would be outside, dressed as Santa Claus, handing out candy canes to the kids in cars that streamed by.
Kreiser said he also likes to “doll up” cars, explaining that he does all the washing, waxing and polishing by hand, and it’s “relaxing” to him.
He and his wife also enjoy cruises, and have taken about one a year. His favorite destination is Bermuda.
What he will miss
“The people ... including the entire workforce of the town,” Kreiser said.
What he won’t miss
“Getting up at 2 a.m. on a cold winter’s night to get the salt and snowplow trucks out ... I was on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 34 years; it’s time to give that up,” Kreiser said. “It’s a young man’s job ... It’s hard in the winter to plan your life; the weather owns you.”
Career highlights
He received the American Public Works Association’s prestigious Douglas Zefting Award in 1998 for organizing the Monroe County Shop Supervisors and Head Mechanics Association to accomplish region-wide training and education.
He is also particularly proud of the open houses the DPW now hosts once a year, in the fall, which he helped get started, and of assisting with the development of a program that resulted in a 10-year transition of the town fleet from “old and unsafe” to more efficient and productive.
In his own words
“It has been a very rewarding career ... We set goals and completed them,” Kreiser said. “Yeah, everyone knows me, but maybe that’s because I’ve been around for 34 years and tried to make everyone happy.
"The way I look at things, you take your job seriously, but you’ve also got to make it fun ... And this was the best place I could ever have hoped to work. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
