OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Pomfret Town Supervisor Daniel Pacos, right, and Pomfret Town Board member EvaDawn Bashaw hold a map of Pioneer Cemetery graves. They are helping in an effort to identify as many graves in the cemetery as possible.

Pomfret Town Supervisor Dan Pacos is interested in consolidating services with neighboring communities, but has a lot of questions.

“Do we need a full timer? Do we need a part timer?” he wondered during the February Pomfret Town Board meeting about a possible shared dog control service. “Where do we house these poor beasts when we pick them up off the road? How do we split the costs?”

Pacos said that grants for local government efficiency studies are “in the works.” One grant is supposed to fund a study on a dog control service that would be shared by the towns of Pomfret and Dunkirk, the city of Dunkirk, and the village of Fredonia. The other grant is to fund a study on a Department of Public Works combined between Fredonia and Pomfret.

Pacos fears that “someone is always going to pay more than they should.” That’s one reason he wants outside consultants to study local municipal consolidation — he thinks a neutral, unbiased look at cost-splitting is vital to the process.

“I know there’s savings to be had by combining. I just want to make sure the savings just don’t go all to one municipality,” he said.

There are other possibilities for consolidation beyond animal control and public works, Pacos noted. He mentioned courts and building inspection services.

In other business from the February Pomfret Town Board meeting:

— The town has received yet another proposed floor plan from its engineers for the new Town Hall on Chestnut Road. Town Clerk Samantha Kellogg said it is the sixth floor plan so far.

Previous plans were withheld because the state court system apparently frowned on them. Pacos said he would let town officials know when and if the state approves the latest plan.

— Pacos said there are eight property owners who have not contacted the town about easements for work in the Phase 2 water project.

He said engineers may be able to “directional drill” in most cases, avoiding the properties where easements have not been granted. Nevertheless, “we’re hoping to try and get a hold of these people.”

He left open the possibility that the town could use eminent domain proceedings in an attempt to force the easements.

Pacos later told the OBSERVER that the properties in question are on Route 20, Berry Road and Van Buren Road.

— Town Board member EvaDawn Bashaw and Pacos said they are doing a grave research project at Pioneer Cemetery.

The duo held up a giant map of the East Main Street cemetery, the original public burial ground in Fredonia. They are systematically putting names on graves on the map.

They want to scan the map online and link names to short biographies. “The more we get into this, the more interesting it gets,” Pacos said.