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During his career with Fredonia's government, Mayor Douglas Essek has usually made sure to stridently speak his mind. Tuesday's Board of Trustees meeting offered some prime examples.
The mayor admonished residents on three quality-of-life issues, not long after threatening to throw out Trustee Jon Espersen for interrupting as he responded to getting called "privileged" by a public speaker.
Essek warned residents against three activities: Playing in the Barker Common fountains, partying at the reservoir property and leaving cut grass in the road.
He began, "I want to remind residents that the fountains in Barker Common, whether filled with water or not, should not be played in with their children. It's not a play fountain, these fountains cost a lot of money when they are damaged."
Trustee Dave Bird commented that people could be held liable for damages to the fountain. "If it's found that your child or you break something, and damage some village property, you will be made to make restitution," Essek said.
The mayor then said a resident near the Fredonia Reservoir recently sent him a photo "of all kinds of cars, there were kids partying." Essek said he had the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office remove some people from the property.
"That is not for anyone to be partying or entering without permission," he said. "It's private property. Actually, I probably would assume, it's maybe a federal offense if you do certain things, because it's considered infrastructure."
Essek went on, "Lawn clippings are not to be blown on the road. The grass is left on the road and it presents a dangerous situation for all types of bikes and motorcycles. The safety of our community and property is very important. We don't want anyone getting hurt or property being harmed. Not only is it dangerous, it's also a vehicle and traffic violation. It's just not good."
Essek's comments, made during his mayoral report, came not long after he testily responded to a Fredonia's Farmers Market speaker. Criticizing a proposed law governing vendors (which was tabled), a representative said village officials looked well-fed and "privileged," compared to some of the market's clientele who depend on it for cheap food.
"I just want to make one comment and it's really not up for discussion," Essek declared as she finished speaking. "You said we have economic privilege here, we look like we're healthy. I don't know about the rest of the board, but I can tell you, I work day in and day out.
"Nobody hands me money to be economically privileged," continued the mayor, a maintenance employee for the Fredonia Central School District. "I work my butt off every day to get everything I have. There's no privilege there. I don't get any freebies, I don't get any free government assistance..."
Espersen attempted to cut Essek off. "I think we need to cut that conversation down," he said.
That clearly irritated the mayor.
"Excuse me, Jon, you're out of order. You're totally out of order," he said. "And if you don't stop, I'll ask you to be removed (from the room)."
Espersen stopped and was not removed.
"There's no privilege here. I work hard -- just because I don't get government assistance does not mean it's a privilege," Essek concluded.