OBSERVER Photo by Gregory Bacon
Fredonia Trustee Michelle Twichell expresses her opposition to the county funding a study for the North County Water District to supply water to the village.
MAYVILLE – Despite objections from a handful of Fredonia residents, Chautauqua County has agreed to partially fund a study for a county water district to provide water to the village.
On Wednesday, the legislature unanimously approved a resolution to assist the Northern Chautauqua County Water District pursuit of connecting the village of Fredonia, using $20,000 from the American
Rescue Plan Act, which the county received from the federal government following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study is expected to cost $70,000. The state is said to be paying for the remaining portion.
It’s expected that LaBella Associates is doing the study, however the resolution does not name a specific engineering firm.
Before the vote, three Fredonia residents called on the county to reject the resolution.
The first was Trustee Michelle Twichell, one of the elected village leaders who has been opposed to the village shutting down its reservoir.
“My board did note vote to approve the proposed study or its funding,” she said.
Twichell did note the village paid LaBella $144,000 for Fredonia to buy water directly from Dunkirk.
“That study excluded the option of buying all water from the district, assuming that the price of water from the district would be higher due to the district’s middleman mark-up,” she said.
Twichell alleged that LaBella misled the village by not doing a State Environmental Quality Review, saying it was not necessary.
“That advice was costly to the village, in the form of a New York state Supreme Court ruling which voided the village board’s resolution to close the reservoir and filtration plant and buy all the water from Dunkirk,” she said.
Twichell insisted Fredonia would be better off getting water from its reservoir than the district.
“We in the village know what we have and how to continue to make it better,” she said.
Fredonia resident Rob Clark also called on the legislature to reject the resolution for the study.
“If changing the village water supply was clearly the right thing to do, it would have been presented to the community with facts and straight-forward data, and not with multi-agency scare tactics,” he said.
Clark argued that the 2023 LaBella study was flawed.
“There are far better choices than updating that report. We should now be looking at ways we can build on what we have and let more sensible people take the lead,” he said.
Finally, James Lynden spoke. A former trustee, he accused the county of wanting Fredonia to join the Northern Chautauqua County Water District to help the district in its financial struggles.
“The (state) comptroller recently admonished the county for the mismanagement of the financials,” he said.
Lynden noted the county loaned money to the water district, which hasn’t been paid back yet.
Before voting on the resolution, Legislator Terry Niebel, R-Sheridan, said he would vote in favor of it, because it creates options for Fredonia.
“It’s just a study and it’s something that can be used by the village,” he said.
In regards to Lynden’s comments, Niebel insisted the district will pay back the county’s general fund with interest. He added that new water districts from Sheridan and Pomfret will likely be added in the future.
Legislator Susan Parker, D-Fredonia, agreed with Niebel regarding how the resolution is simply funding a study.
“This is a comparison that will be used to determine the feasibility of the Northern Chautauqua Water District for Fredonia,” she said.
The resolution funding the study was unanimously approved.