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Fredonia's trustees seem to have little appetite for a proposed law concerning vendors.
James Lynden asked fellow trustees at their workshop this month what was happening with the proposal, on the table for weeks after criticism from local festival organizers. Lynden said he was asking on behalf of the village Planning Board.
"I just don't know how to make it equitable, without making people feel at the same time they're being targeted and treated unfairly," Trustee Nicole Siracuse said. "Even though everyone is being treated the same, because they were never charged before, everyone is feeling targeted. I don't know how to move forward without them feeling like that."
"My own personal feeling is, leave well enough alone and don't make changes" to the existing laws governing vendors, Trustee Jon Espersen said. "I don't see what the problem was in the first place."
"I don't like that, depending on what you're selling, you have to pay a fee -- I don't think that that's fair," Siracuse said. "There are so many people who are not paying a fee now, that feel then, if we start to make them pay a fee..."
"You won't have festivals," interjected Trustee Michelle Twichell.
Lynden said it was clear trustees wanted to table the proposed law. "Put it to rest," agreed Twichell.
Trustee David Bird, who originally proposed the vendor law, was not present for the discussion.
In July Festivals Fredonia noted its discouragement in a letter to village trustees about a possible increase. One proposal being considered aimed to raise vendor fees to $75 per event.
"As you have been made aware, the costs of doing business keep rising and we are trying to keep vendor fees down," said Larry Fiorella, Festivals Fredonia chairman in the letter. "If either or both of these issues are resolved in a way that adversely influences the operations of the festivals, there will likely be no more festivals in the village. I hope this does not come to pass."