Dr. Michael C. Barris seeks a seat on the Fredonia Village Board of Trustees in the Nov. 7 election.

In 1976, Dr. Barris commenced his career as a fellow in ophthalmology at the University of Florida. In 1983, he relocated to Puerto Rico, leveraging his skills and expertise as an assistant professor of optometry at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico.

While he enjoyed his time in Puerto Rico due to the beauty of the buildings and landscape, he also saw a lot of difficulty with the island’s utilities, which perpetuated major public health issues. Due to this experience, Dr. Barris developed a deep appreciation of the importance of public utilities in maintaining the health of the general population. This has led him to be active in municipal government.

As a village trustee from 2018 through 2019, he was actively involved in efforts to rebuild the reservoir and the wastewater treatment plant, which would benefit 18,000 residents

Dr. Barris has been Recording Secretary of the Fredonia-Pomfret Democratic Association for the past 17 years and has the endorsement of that group.