Fredonia’s trustees mourned former village mayor Dr. Anthony Leone at the board’s regular meeting Monday.

A moment of silence to remember Leone, who was mayor from 1969 until 1971, started the meeting. Leone, 95, died Thursday. His obituary is on page 2 of today’s OBSERVER.

Minus Mayor Athanasia Landis, who was out of town, the trustees agreed to the purchase of a new police car and hired a part-time police officer and workers for the summer recreation program. Trustee James Lynden ran the meeting in her absence.

The focus of discussion during the pre-meeting workshop was typical warm-weather concerns such as high grass and road maintenance.

“I brought it up to the mayor last Wednesday,” Trustee Michael Barris said about uncut lawns in the village. “Just before I walked into her office, a citizen stopped me in the street and complained about a specific property. … That property has been resolved, but I have seen other properties with similar situations.”

Code Enforcement Officer Charles LaBarbera responded, “A lot have been cut. I know a few are bank owned.”

Barris said LaBarbera’s assistant, Steve Manos, assured him recently that their office was sending letters to property owners demanding overgrown lawns get cut.

The cut grass could cause problems for some motorists, Trustee Roger Britz said later. He mentioned that a motorcyclist friend of his said grass cuttings on a road are “slick as ice” for bikers. Britz said that was dangerous and implored residents to keep lawn clippings off the streets.

Trustee Doug Essek brought up an issue with Pulaski and Steuben streets. He said the village public works department mistakenly used a product with high sand content when oiling and stoning the street last year, and the result is a high level of dust.

“Those streets have been swept numerous times and they still have high dust situations,” he said. “Tony (Gugino, public works supervisor) was going to contact the contractors and see if there is any remedy for that.”

The new police vehicle will be a 2019 Dodge Durango, purchased from Fredonia Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep to replace a 2015 Ford Explorer. The cost to the village will be $25,186 after it gets $6,500 to trade in the Explorer.

The new part-time police officer is Zachary Hand, of Lakewood, hired at $16 per hour. The summer recreation program workers hired are Stephen Aldrich, Glen Bennett, Melissa Berg, Sydney Bigelow, Caleb Crampton, Alizee Dziduch, Tyler Garigal, Zoya Katta, Jacob Lesswing, Angela Mackowiak, Nicholas Miller, Aaron Pacos, James Przybycien, Marcus Seasteadt, Kayla Sullivan (program coordinator), Nathan Shuart, Francesca Sysol, Baylee Tarnowski and Ally Walton-Bald.