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Fredonia narrowly approves new sewer treatment agreement

OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford The Fredonia Wastewater Treatment Plant on Route 5 in the town of Dunkirk is pictured Tuesday. Fredonia’s Board of Trustees approved a new treatment services agreement with the Portland Pomfret Dunkirk Sewer District on Monday.

Trustee Roger Britz was the swing vote Monday as the Fredonia Board of Trustees narrowly approved a new treatment services agreement with the Portland Pomfret Dunkirk Sewer District.

Trustees Douglas Essek and Michael Barris were on the committee that drew up terms for the renewal, and voted for the resolution. Trustees Kara Christina and James Lynden voted “no.” Lynden did so after a formula he came up with for calculating sewer flow rates was rejected.

“The contract being presented today is not consistent in content with what was previously given to the board,” Lynden said. He added there was not a fair debt service allocation for the village sewage treatment plant within the pact and that it was “not transparent in how the charges are derived.” Lynden advocated a “no” vote as a way to reopen negotiations with the district.

Village Treasurer Jim Sedota came up with the sewer flow charge formula that was used. “There is no perfect measurement or way to bill for sewer waste… most communities use water consumption but we don’t sell them water, so we have an inflow meter that measures their inflow,” Sedota said.

A key change made to the contract Monday was that it was made into a five-year deal instead of a 20-year contract, after concerns were expressed about the length. Barris was against the change, stating “I don’t think the term limit is relevant” because there is a provision in the contract that either the sewer district or the village can terminate the contract with 365 day’s notice. However, no one supported Barris’ position.

In other business from Monday’s Board of Trustees workshop and meeting:

¯ Fredonia is using its municipal financial advisors to help refinance more than $4 million in bonds, and offer technical assistance for the upcoming wastewater treatment plant project. The Board of Trustees used twin resolutions to bring in Municipal Solutions, Inc. for the paperwork.

The company was hired for “a fixed cost of $22,000” to “provide professional services to effectuate the village’s refund” on public improvement bonds from 2016 that cost $4,559,000. Municipal Solutions will do the plant project work for “an estimated cost of $40,000.”

¯ Fredonia is moving ahead with repairs to its Main Street fire hall. The board hired Wendel Engineering “to provide design and bidding services for the project at a cost of $41,500.”

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