LaBella Associates says the village needs to decommission its dam and reservoir.

Fredonia’s engineers have decided the village should buy water from the North County Water District and decommission its dam and reservoir.

Representatives from LaBella Associates presented their findings from a new study of Fredonia’s water system Tuesday at a Board of Trustees meeting. It was quite similar to an October 2023 presentation about a previous LaBella study, which suggested buying water directly from the city of Dunkirk. The city is also the sole water supplier to the North County Water District.

“The basis of this recommendation is in large part non-monetary,” LaBella’s Matt Higgins said. He ticked off a list of concerns about Fredonia’s current water system setup. These include a reservoir that has had drought worries in the past — but is also susceptible to damaging floods. Labella feels streambank stabilization at the reservoir will be a long term challenge and an ongoing cost.

“Historical non-compliance in adhering to regulatory standards” was also noted. This was likely a reference to the series of deficiencies state health officials found with the village water system last year. Fredonia has worked with the Chautauqua County Health Department to fix those deficiencies.

Higgins said: “We think that there are some benefits that could be had with leveraging interconnections with the nearby system, and efficiencies that could be gained through sharing personnel, (and) sharing lessons learned to maintain a system for village users that is regulatory-compliant. We think that drawing down the reservoir would accomplish several goals,” notably long-term liability reduction.

Assuming no grant funding, LaBella thinks it would cost about $34.9 million for Fredonia to repair and keep its water system. Moving to North County District water would cost about $20.7 million.

Annual debt service would be $700,000 more for the “go-it-alone” option, aka “Alternative 1” in LaBella’s report — $1.9 million versus $1.2 million. Alternative 1 would also demand $1.9 million more in operation costs than the water district option, aka “Alternative 2.”

However, the second alternative would sock Fredonia with water purchase costs that would average $4.7 million a year over a 30-year period.

Tuesday’s presentation went on for 85 minutes, taking up the majority of the trustees’ meeting. It was held in the trustees’ normal meeting room instead of the more spacious third-floor courtroom as planned, because one of LaBella’s representatives attended remotely and the courtroom apparently isn’t video-capable.

It made for a cramped meeting as dozens of Fredonia residents attended, filling every chair in the room and overflowing into the hall.

Mayor Michael Ferguson emphasized that no final decision on the future of the water system was going to be made during the meeting. He stated this on two separate occasions.

Ferguson also promised that LaBella’s report will be made available on the village website. The engineers’ presentation can also be viewed on Fredonia Access’ YouTube video of the meeting.