PRESS RELEASE
SANBORN — If you want to get a license to drive trucks and buses but live north of Buffalo, you have to travel all the way to a testing site in the Southtowns. Tuesday morning, Niagara County Clerk Joseph A. Jastrzemski plans to change that.
Jastrzemski will unveil the county’s new Commercial Drivers License road test center at Niagara County Community College—a move he says is driven by both customer convenience and the needs of the booming economy.
“Friday, we found out that the economy grew by 4.1 percent in the second quarter. That’s phenomenal growth, and the good jobs numbers that keep coming out mean that people are going to be seeing more disposable income. We expect that, in an economy where so much retail is done online, there will be more and more need for delivery drivers, long haul, things like that,” Jastrzemski explained. “We want to help our local residents find those jobs—which often are good-paying—or go into the transportation business themselves.”
Jastrzemski said he had been working closely with NCCC Board of Trustees Chairman William L. Ross and college President Dr. William J. Murabito to make the plan a reality, along with state Sen. Robert G. Ortt’s office and county lawmakers.
Jastrzemski and other county leaders noted also that transportation careers with the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, local bus companies, and school district bus fleets are good jobs that often include strong benefit packages.
“We want to help local residents find good jobs, and we want to help local employers find good candidates for hiring,” Niagara County Legislature Majority Leader Randy R. Bradt, R-North Tonawanda, said. “Making it easier for them to take their test and take that first step on this career path is part of that vision.”
Jastrzemski thanked Ortt and college officials for working closely with the county to develop the testing site.
“Niagara County Community College has been a strong proponent of this as it is well within their mission of helping ready our local workforce,” Jastrzemski said. “We look forward to getting the site up and running with them.”
