Village Trustee Michelle Twichell

Fredonia’s trustees don’t mind letting Chautauqua County sweat a little, tabling a resolution this week that would seek legal action against the county government for failing to provide water during a recent village boil order.

The resolution, sponsored by Trustee Michelle Twichell, alleges the county breached a contract with the village because connections with its North County Water District and Fredonia don’t work properly.

Trustee Ben Brauchler stated he wanted more time to read and consider Twichell’s resolution. “There’s quite a lot of supporting information I haven’t had time to look at,” he said.

Trustee Jon Espersen asked Twichell if the village’s attorneys thought the resolution had merit. He quoted the 2020 contract with the county, “It is covenanted and agreed that the parties to this agreement shall not ever be held accountable or liable, nor shall be held or considered in breach, for failure on its part to supply or transmit water for any reason pursuant to this agreement.”

Espersen continued, “Do I think this contract needs to be redone? I absolutely do. But with that statement in there, I can’t see our attorneys agreeing that this would have any merit, and it would be expensive for the village to proceed with Article 78.”

However, he was open to tabling the resolution so Brauchler can study the issue, “and we can have that discussion at that point” when it returns to the agenda.

Mayor Michael Ferguson commented, “Having done some research on this myself, in actuality, the village is in breach of some of these contracts — of which, we have five contracts with the town of Pomfret to provide water. North End of the town, Route 60, Route 20, Berry Road, Chestnut, and Chautauqua which was merged into the North End contract.

“With that agreement (with the county), yes, we agreed to have that — we never put in pressure valves at any of those points that were supposed to be put in.”

Twichell questioned if the mayor was correct. “I really think you’re misunderstanding that.”

Trustee Paul Wandel stated, “There’s no reference to any kind of interconnection hardware (in the contract), which essentially is what’s required. That’s vague to me, so this needs to be further explored.”

Twichell said “somebody from the county Health Department said that those connections were tested and they were operable, and passed inspection.”

Trustee Nicole Siracuse was a critic of the proposed resolution when Twichell announced it last week. However, she didn’t attend Monday’s meeting. The four trustees who did all agreed to table Twichell’s resolution.

Fredonia water independence stalwarts Andrew Ludwig and James Lynden bashed the county and spoke in support of Twichell’s position during the public comments portion of Monday’s meeting.

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel, in a statement to the OBSERVER last week, said the issue lies with the village.

“Simply put, all the connections between the North County Water District (NCWD) and the village of Fredonia are operational. The issue lies with Fredonia’s water infrastructure, which has suffered from years of neglect. While the NCWD and Fredonia’s water systems are connected, the valves at the Fredonia Water Treatment Plant have been nonoperational for some time. As a result, the village is unable to shut off its compromised water supply to its customers.

“Because the village’s water supply cannot be isolated — and due to the higher pressure within their system — the interconnect with the North County Water District cannot be activated. To fully integrate the two systems, the village would need to repair or upgrade infrastructure at its treatment plant.”