Fredonia Trustee Jon Espersen blasted fellow Trustee Michelle Twichell on Monday for her comments about the village water situation in an OBSERVER article over the weekend.

Twichell stated that a Dec. 26 resolution to decommission the water plant and draw down the reservoir, and buy water from Dunkirk, was “rushed” and had little discussion. Espersen said, “We discussed it ad nauseum since we hired LaBella (to do a study of the village’s water system in spring 2022)… I have no idea what she means by that. We knew we needed to make a decision by the end of the year since the (Chautauqua County) Department of Health report came out.”

Espersen called Twichell’s comment “disingenuous” — and he was far from finished.

He called her assertion that she wanted Treasurer Erlyssa LeBeau to work up some numbers to boost her case that the village will lose revenue, false. She has not approached the treasurer, he claimed.

In fact, Espersen questioned the idea at the root of Twichell’s supposed request, that the village would give up a major source of revenue.

“Our revenue has cost us more than $1 million in the last three years,” due to rising production costs, he said. Espersen quoted a projected net loss of $588,465 on village water production for the 2024-25 fiscal year. That will get paid out of the village reserve fund and “we can’t keep taking money out of the reserve fund,” he said.

He came armed with an email from Randy Woodbury, Dunkirk Department of Public Works Director and perhaps the staunchest defender of the city’s water system, to rebut Twichell’s statement that the city needs more revenue to pay off improvements.

Quoting Woodbury, Espersen said Dunkirk’s recent water infrastructure work was one-third funded by grants, with the other two-thirds paid for with a 30-year, interest-free loan that was itself paid off when Dunkirk signed a 40-year water supply contract with the North County Water District.

Calling Twichell’s statement “total fabrication,” Espersen said of her and others who do not support decommissioning the water plant, “They just say whatever it is to make a point, truth be damned.”

He continued, “She has a right to voice an opinion, she doesn’t have a right to her own set of facts.”

Espersen outright laughed at a comment specifically made about him in the Saturday article. Twichell hit him on a comment of concern for SUNY Fredonia, her wondering about the residents and taxpayers of the village. “As if I don’t care about the residents and taxpayers. Isn’t it good for everybody if we can work this out?” Espersen said.

He also chortled at her assertion that Dunkirk could stymie future business growth in Fredonia by refusing to sell higher amounts of water. “I know, you want 10 million (gallons of water) but we’re only going to give you 2 million. We would sign a long-term guaranteed contract on this.”

In any event, he said, “Talking about negotiations now, we’re putting the cart before the horse.”

Espersen made another point about her loss-of-revenue contention: “It’s as if she thinks we’re going to give water away. We’re not giving it away, we’re still selling it to all our customers.”

He also doesn’t understand why Twichell claimed to be getting so many comments of support, stating that for 95% of people he met on the campaign trail, “the refrain was, ‘Do something.’ It wasn’t, ‘Oh my God, don’t shut the reservoir.'”

Espersen said prior village administrations left the water plant in poor condition, “lurching from emergency to emergency without a plan for upgrades.” And speaking of prior village administrations, he had harsh words for former Mayor Athanasia Landis, too.

Landis has made public statements against the plan trustees passed Dec, 26.

One of them listed contaminating particles that can be found in Lake Erie water, Dunkirk’s source. “I’m not disputing that, but there’s no context — what particles can be found in the reservoir?” Espersen asked.

“After treatment, Dunkirk water is of higher quality than Fredonia water,” he stated, citing the county Health Department.

Espersen called Landis’ statement “lying by omission” and repeated his ire for opponents of closing the water plant: “They want the public to be so afraid.”

He said trustees are not bound forever to the Dec. 26 resolution. “We voted to explore a direction — if it becomes readily apparent that direction won’t work, we have every right to explore other options.”

However, opponents of the direction approved in the resolution are “fear-mongering” by “acting like this is a done deal,” Espersen said.