Business View Civil & Municipal | July 2022

89 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 7 TOWN OF MASSENA , NEW YORK Describing what makes Massena an attractive option, Town Supervisor Susan Bellor offers, “We have more affordable housing. People like it because they’re not in a city, they like what they hear about the school district, and there is a feeling of safety for many families.” Although the community has experienced some industrial losses, Board Member Deb Willer, shares, “We have a group of people here that have an entrepreneurial spirit. We have lost big industry in this area, but these people are starting to think a little more outside the box, and we are seeing people start to do some investing in small business, which is great. Small business tends to stay once it gets established.” Bellor adds that Massena is a caring community, where people are always ready to help, whatever the need. She shares, “People are great at volunteering and helping others. We have a variety of food pantries, between Meals on Wheels, the Massena Neighborhood Community Center, St. Peter’s Outreach and the Salvation Army. People are always ready to help other people, especially during the last two years and COVID.” Arconic Massena Operations, a leading manufacturer of aluminum sheet for the aerospace and automotive industries, is a major Massena employer with approximately 125 workers. Another innovative employer, Coinmint’s New York State operating subsidiary, North Country Colocation Services Inc. (NCCS), is headquartered in Massena and operates one of the largest digital asset data centers in the world at the site of a former Alcoa aluminum smelter, which has been repurposed by NCCS to accommodate its large-scale digital asset mining operations. What began as a small operation with contract workers in 2017 now has approximately 100 full-time workers and is growing. NCCS obtains its power through a direct connection to the nearby Moses-