Why is the water brown?
With rate increases, mayor promises action on James Place
The village board on Monday voted unanimously to carve the new usage rates into stone, with Trustee Marc Ruckman not present to vote. As a result, the water rate will swell 31.5 percent to $4.80 per thousand gallons (an increase of $1.15) and the sewer rate will climb 19.3 percent to $6.17 (an increase of $1).
Mayor Athanasia Landis previously explained the rate increases are necessary so the village can begin working on critical capital project needs, including a multi-million-dollar undertaking for the reservoir dam and spillway.
“Unfortunately, everything in infrastructure, everything in water, everything in sewer systems are very expensive,” she pointed out. “I don’t want to do (these increases), however, we have needs at the wastewater treatment plant (and the water treatment plant).”
A handful of James Place residents attended the meeting to once again pressure the board into addressing their perpetual problem with potable water.
Resident Paul Luce showed the board a bottle of yellowish-brownish water — the same water that comes out of his home’s faucets.
“This has become a health issue,” Luce stated. “It’s so bad that in order to even fill a bathtub for my granddaughter, I’ve got to let the water run and run, so all I’m doing is driving up my water bill. I would just assume you shut my water off at the street because most of it’s going down the drain waiting to clear it up, and I do not want your water anymore. I can’t pay your rates for water I’ve got to watch go down the drain until I can get just a little bit that I can use, so please, shut my water off.”
Luce mentioned he would have no qualms about the fee increases if he could simply use the water and not have to buy bottled water a few times every week.
“I just want to express my extreme displeasure that we’re here asking for another water increase when we know there are issues with our current water system,” resident Todd Proffitt told the board. “My wife and I were looking and found an article from last year, which you were also asking for an increase and part of that effort was supposed to go toward fixing these issues. Here we are a year later and the best we’ve done, it seems like, is a survey.”
Landis explained officials in March received an initial report on an engineering study commissioned by the village last year. She added the study was necessary so the village knows how to fix the issue of water quality without flying blind and wasting taxpayer dollars.
The mayor joined the residents in expressing frustration with the snail-like pace of progress. She apologized, saying she cannot fix the plight faster for not only James Place, but Carol Avenue, as well.
“Unfortunately, nothing in government works really fast,” she told the residents. “I can tell you it’s sometimes disconcerting. They (the engineers) recommend that we go down and check specific streets after we do the annual flushing … so we clean all the pipes and all the hydrants and all that. This is going to happen in the next week.”
After the lines are flushed, the engineers will take water samples to complete their study and make recommendations for a solution.
Once that is completed, Fredonia can put together a grant application for the state to help pay for the village’s infrastructure needs, as the water and sewer increases alone will not cover everything. Landis noted such a grant will cover 50 percent in a best-case scenario, so the rate hikes are necessary.
The grant application deadline is Aug. 2.
“I just want to assure you that this is a priority for us; it’s not on the backburner,” Landis stressed to the residents. “At the same time, there are some other problems. For example, not the whole James Place has a problem. I don’t know why. They don’t know why. We have to find out what’s the problem. We haven’t forgotten; I promise you that this is going (to happen), I just don’t know how to make it faster.”
It was noted that flushing the lines slightly improves the quality of the water. Trustee Kara Christina suggested putting James Place on a flushing schedule until the issue is permanently resolved. Village Administrator Richard St. George mentioned the village could look into an automatic flusher for the line.
This is the fourth year in a row that water and sewer rates are increasing. Since 2014, the water rate has ballooned 61 percent, while the sewer rate has mushroomed 51 percent.
Officials justified the first two years’ increases by citing a need to help compensate for the mammoth decline in load sizes at the water and wastewater plants as a result of the Carriage House food factory’s closure. These last two increases have been attributed to infrastructure needs.
“I would like to see the needed repairs to our infrastructure be made shortly to ensure all Fredonia residents have clean drinking water,” Trustee Douglas Essek said in justifying his votes on the water and sewer hikes. “I would like to see a lot of progress be made and a rate increase will assist us with a forward motion on our water issues.”
The minimum quarterly charges of $25 for water and $20 for sewer will remain unchanged when the new usage rates go into effect.
Email: gfox@observertoday.com. Twitter: @gfoxnews
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