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Fredonia will be getting a study to study the previous studies of its water infrastructure. But it's still not clear what else the village wants from LaBella and Associates' upcoming dive into its water system.
LaBella representatives explained a proposal they recently submitted, then stood silently at the podium for a while Monday as village trustees debated the scope of the study. Dunkirk Mayor Wilfred Rosas' proposal to fund 20% -- if the study includes a look at expanded intermunicipal water sharing -- weighed heavily on the discussion.
The trustees wound up tabling a resolution to move forward on the study, after Trustee James Lynden proposed the delay over a lack of clarity on funding. The vote was 4-0, with Trustee Jon Espersen marked as absent. Espersen has been an advocate both for moving forward on the study and for investigating increased water cooperation with Dunkirk and its associated North County Water District.
The discussion was spurred by a presentation from Matt Higgins and Don Hoefler of LaBella about a water study proposal the company submitted to Fredonia a couple weeks ago.
"There were just kind of things that we ticked off all along that were out there … issues about your water, " Hoefler said. "In the back of our minds, we have all these water issues that kind of set themselves up for a menu board... we just kind of had a laundry list of tasks or things to take a look at, and we thought that it made sense to put it all on paper, and get you something we can take a look at and discuss."
Higgins said the proposal was meant to "set an outline of tasks that, taken as a whole, the investigation of which might act to give the village some clarity on the best current and future source of high-quality drinking water at affordable rates for the village."
He added that if the board only wanted to do part of LaBella's study proposal, "we would hope to be able to have a conversation with you about that. The level of depth of the investigation of these issues ... will just influence the strength of the recommendations and the conclusions that come out of it."
Lynden said, "What I see is you're doing is a desktop evaluation, which is nothing more than reviewing the current studies and understanding of our facilities as they sit today. It does say that any field work would be extra."
Higgins said he has seen "maybe a dozen" files of studies from the past decade or so. He added, "Many of them look at one item or another item, and don't look at the various options on the table … together, or in comparison with each other."
Trustee Dave Bird said the studies must stay updated so the village can quickly get in on grant money. He advocated a wide-ranging study. "Hopefully you'll be saying, 'These are our top five priorities and we're going after them, but we're also going after these ones as well,' and if we get funding on them, great, and if we don't, next year we're gonna go for it again."
Trustee Nicole Siracuse pointed out Dunkirk's 20% funding offer. Lynden and Trustee Michelle Twichell didn't sound too enthusiastic about it.
"I don't care how it's paid. That's semantics at this point. The thing is, we should move forward," Bird said.
"You should care how it's paid," replied Twichell.
Essek repeated the village should spend its remaining American Rescue Plan Act money on the study. He said the money has to be spent this year, anyway.
"This is the time -- we have a comprehensive study (proposed) to go over all these different things. We have the funding in house to do it. This is what we owe our residents … and all our water customers," Fredonia's mayor added.
"I don't want to do anything extra, like seeing if we're going to close down the reservoir," Twichell said.
Bird said, "This study will 100% say don't do this, or do this. The village residents want it to be clear. This will do that."
Lynden said, "With the ongoing pressure from the outside governing bodies, the autonomy of the village has become a concern. … How can we trust others to handle our water supply now, when we trusted them when they were consulted when configuring our backup system, (and) now the numbers keep changing."
He added that sources outside Fredonia have repeatedly made "false statements" about the situation in the OBSERVER.
Lynden said, "We have the ability to get a minimum 1.3 million gallons a day from the current connections. Why do we currently have to go after a study to connect with Dunkirk, even if for some reason they want to pay us a portion of that study? Why would they want to do that? I can tell you why -- they want to get a good portion of our sales of water."
He went on to suggest that Dunkirk and the North County Water District are seeking assistance with their debt service through expansion to Fredonia. "They'll be able to raise and change our costs to anything they want to supply us."
Bird said to Lynden, "I agree with everything you said. But I think spending $3,000 to assure the village residents that our water system is the best way we should we be going -- or whatever it's going to cost for that portion of the study -- is the best thing we can do. Why would we not want to have a definitive report saying we are better off staying with village of Fredonia water?"
"It's more than just the cost of the water, it's the revenue." Twichell said.
"That's all going to be in the report -- they're going to say, stay with the village of Fredonia," Bird said.
"We won't have revenue coming in anymore," suggested Twichell.
A frustrated Bird declared, "Stop with the revenue! You're not listening to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is their report will tell us the best way to go."
Essek appeared unimpressed with the trustees' debate.
"This board has been inactive to the needs of this community as far as water. We have not done a thing in a year," he said. "We have the ability to right now to get this study going so we can have the engineering studies to apply for the grants to start fixing some of these infrastructure problems. Period!"
The mayor also remarked: "I should bring a can here so we can kick it further." He directed Treasurer Erlyssa LeBeau to put a resolution funding the study with ARPA money on the agenda for the trustees' next meeting.
"We're not kicking it any further," said Bird.