Business View Civil and Municipal | Volume 2, Issue 7

51 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 7 TOWN OF POMFRET , NEW YORK offer a five-year program that gives students their high school diploma and certification in a skilled trade of their choice. When they graduate, they’ve got an Associates degree from Jamestown, as well as certification in whichever career and technology area that they took programming for, and then they are truly job ready.” From a residential perspective, the town does have a shortage of housing stock and homes sell quickly when they do come on the market. Although two new subdivisions have gone up in the last 10 years, there are no current projects, but the town is working to update their water systems to eventually spur some new home development. “Right now, about 80 percent of the outlying rural areas are on well water systems and we hope to lay water mains throughout the whole town,” says Pacos. “We are expanding our water infrastructure out into the outlying areas to try to get more people, on more properties, fresh drinking water, so they don’t have to use wells.” As they lay water mains, the town will simultaneously update roads along the way. Jamestown Macadam Inc. has been doing a great job on the town’s blacktop paving projects. At the moment, Pacos says they buy their water from the Village of Fredonia and previously it was expensive – prohibitive to business owners and residents. But he renegotiated water rates for the town and now they are much more affordable. In the next three to five years, Pacos hopes to create partnerships within the Village to help both communities prosper. They are both working to create their 10-year comprehensive plans, with community consultation to set and take action steps to further those plans. They are also pushing to have more retail and manufacturers come to the area. Pacos wants to take advantage of the town’s existing industrial district zones that are not in use, and