The law firm hired by Fredonia for attorney services in 2021 charged the village more than three times what its former attorney made in 2020.

According to documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Law request, Webster Szanyi charged the village a total of $234,063 for services rendered in 2021.

Previous village attorney, Daniel Gard, made $68,615 in 2020 and $61,639 for 2019, according to his wage and tax statements that were provided with his address redacted.

The Webster Szanyi documents were in the form of itemized transactions from Fredonia’s general, sewer and water budget funds. The general fund charges from the firm amounted to $223,362, the water fund saw $8,581 in bills and for the sewer fund, it was $2,120.

All numbers have been rounded to the nearest dollar.

A FOIL request for “attorney fees for 2019, 2020 and 2021 paid by the village of Fredonia” went to village Clerk Annemarie Johnston on Feb. 15. She emailed the response about 4 p.m. March 11.

According to minutes on Fredonia’s website, Gard resigned at the village Board of Trustees’ Dec. 14, 2020, meeting, stating he wanted to pursue other professional opportunities. The resignation was effective Dec. 31, 2020.

The trustees voted unanimously on Jan. 25, 2021, to hire Webster Szanyi, the website minutes state. The only trustee from that board still in office is James Lynden. Evadawn Bashaw and Roger Britz were not re-elected in November. Scott Johnston — who had just been named to the board to fill a vacancy when the law firm got hired — did not run for a full term.

Webster Szanyi, headquartered in Buffalo, has sent two attorneys to work with Fredonia, Melanie Beardsley and Charles Roberts.

Both spent a fair amount of time in 2021 working with Fredonia on proposed changes to the village charter, as well as contractual issues. The documents provided by the village did not list how much time they worked.

The charter changes were passed by the 2021 board, though opposed by Lynden. They were almost immediately overturned by the new set of trustees that took office in January.

A retreat held last spring closed to the public to discuss the proposed charter changes, the firm contended, was not in violation of the open meeting law.