The Fredonia Village Board on Tuesday voted to decommission the village’s water plant and to acquire water from Dunkirk.

Fredonia’s trustees voted 3-2 Tuesday night to decommission the village water plant, draw down the reservoir and acquire water from Dunkirk.

Trustees David Bird, Jon Espersen and Nicole Siracuse voted yes. Trustees James Lynden and Michelle Twichell voted no.

Lynden and Twichell got no support from the three other trustees on a motion to fix the current village water infrastructure, without doing water acquisition from Dunkirk.

The trustees unanimously tabled a resolution backed by Mayor Douglas Essek to fix the infrastructure but also open a new supply line from Dunkirk.

The vote on that came after the vote to make big changes to the way Fredonia does its water. It was labeled as “Option 3” in a high-profile study of village water issues by the LaBella engineering firm. The Lynden/Twichell preferred option was “Option 1.”

Espersen said, “I’ve heard from enough people that I respect greatly that if it were their decision, they wouldn’t put a dime more than they need to in a building that’s over a hundred years old, and is going to need consistent repairs for the next however many years that building is there.”

Bird said, “I believe firmly that if we want to keep our hospital plan moving forward… if we want to see the college grow, we need a steady source of water that is guaranteed. That, right now, is Dunkirk.” He suggested that “down the road” village officials could reverse course on decommissioning the plant, after an interconnection with Dunkirk is running.

Lynden said the closing the reservoir and treatment plant “would be more than the community losing their autonomy concerning our water utility. It would also eliminate the safety network to our neighboring communities that the village provides and has contracts for.”

Twichell said, “I really do believe in preserving the village reservoir. You just can’t take that for granted. For a hundred years, it’s been there. I realize the county has approached us on different items we need to correct and we have been working on that. I see that as the most urgent part of voting tonight, which would be to fix the reservoir and use that gravity-fed reservoir. … I really don’t feel the need to move on other than fixing the reservoir and continue providing our citizens with fresh, clean water.”

Before the votes, Village Attorney Melanie Beardsley noted that the Chautauqua County Department of Health had required a decision on the water system by Dec. 29, in relation to the action plan on water system deficiencies tagged by the state Board of Health. She said if no decision was made, the state might consider the village in violation of the sanitary code and require a “Tier 1” notification, on the same level as a boil water order.

Approval of a resolution to drill exploratory wells to look for a groundwater source passed, 3-2. That came before the votes on the water system “big picture.” The “no” votes were Lynden and Twichell.

Essek brought up the four water resolutions in a 15-minute workshop before the meeting, stating that trustees had already discussed the issue enough.

However, he touted his resolution. “This is the only option that has fully redundant possibilities… with 100% water supply from the city of Dunkirk and currently maintaining our water treatment plant,” Essek said.

Espersen asked if he had any costs for his proposal. Essek first said he wasn’t sure, mentioning the village couldn’t know what it would have to pay until it knew what grants it was getting. He then cited LaBella’s study for a $10 million price tag on an interconnection with Dunkirk.

Essek read a letter from Dunkirk Mayor Wilfred Rosas and Mayor-elect Kate Wdowiasz. The letter thanked the village for including the city water infrastructure in the LaBella study. It also offered a reiteration of Dunkirk’s interest in water collaboration with Fredonia.

“We wish to remind you of our commitment, in addition to the commitment of the county, to provide funds towards your water study,” the letter stated. “We wish to inform you the funds should be forthcoming in the new budget year. The city’s commitment was based on the village giving the city fair consideration. We wish to acknowledge the seriousness in which your village and engineers took our offer of opportunities and possibilities.”

Siracuse asked Essek if her resolution for LaBella’s “Option 3” could be announced third in the line of water-related measures, ahead of Essek’s, as the mayor’s had no trustee sponsors. Essek agreed.

Her resolution was approved before Essek’s was read out. Siracuse then successfully motioned to table Essek’s measure.