Fredonia Professional Firefighters Association President Dan Berg thinks the village should pay Brendan Pieszak during his paramedic training.

Fredonia will pay for firefighter Brendan Pieszak’s paramedic training after all.

The village Board of Trustees denied an outlay related to the firefighter’s training in July, but changed course at its latest meeting, approving $10,000 for it. The original move came amid concerns about the village’s red-stained financial situation — but community and Fredonia Fire Department members were upset that Pieszak would have to pay for his own training.

Dan Berg, president of the Fredonia Professional Firefighters Association, spoke at the board meeting to call for the village to pay Pieszak at the school. He was joined by numerous fellow union members, some of whom took off before Berg spoke to answer a call.

Berg said it had been misconstrued that Pieszak offered to take the classes for free. Pieszak made that statement to keep his hat in the ring for the paramedic school process, Berg said.

“He is not certain that he is willing to take on the financial strain of attending paramedic school without fair compensation … being compensated for class time will merely offset the burden he is willing to take on for the betterment of the fire department,” Berg said.

The paramedic school is set to start Aug. 27 at Erie Community College.

Trustee Jon Espersen said at a July 31 workshop said the board had actually approved a transfer of funds to pay for Pieszak’s schooling, but then turned down paying his salary while he’s in school. However, “There’s some new information that’s come to light,” Espersen said.

Fire Chief Josh Myers then said Fredonia’s volunteer fire company “will entertain the idea of paying for his medical school and books, covering that through their funds.”

Myers said that would cost $7,500, and he could then take the same amount from a budget line for schooling and transfer it to payroll to pay Pieszak.

“At least I’m not telling the kid he’s got to go for free,” Myers said. He asked for a resolution at the following Monday’s meeting to authorize payment for the classes. “If for some reason the volunteer fire company does not approve it, we can rescind it,” he said.

Espersen noted another paramedic has resigned, effective in September. Trustee Nicole Siracuse commented that because of that, “we need to kind of squirrel that $7,500 away for training for another medic. As much as I would like to pay him a stipend, something, anything, I think this budget is too tight.”

Myers said the volunteer company would probably not be interested in contributing to Pieszak’s schooling if “the board’s direction was ‘OK, pick up the tab, but we’re still not going to pay him to go.'”

Trustee Michelle Twichell said there was $5,000 in the budget already for the training, and she had Myers state that he would transfer $5,000 from another training line.

Trustees agreed to authorize the $10,000 for the training the following Monday and worry about Pieszak’s stipend later.

Espersen told the OBSERVER that would get discussed at Wednesday’s board workshop.