Fredonia Fire Chief Josh Myers wants the village to start a permitting system for events, where village departments would have to offer their approval.

Myers mentioned at a Fredonia Board of Trustees workshop Wednesday that he emailed a draft permit application to village officials.

“We talked about this over a year ago. I’ll admit that I really didn’t bring it across the finish line, so I am now,” the fire chief said. “This is basically a form (for) anyone’s welcome to host an event.”

Myers continued, “I think we should set some type of parameters on what size of event. If someone’s renting the (Barker Common) gazebo and throwing a birthday party for their kid, I don’t really think this is applicable.”

He said of the permit form, “It’s pretty self explanatory, we can add to or take away from this. Really, the big thing from my seat is (on) page 2, it gets routed through the departments — it goes to the police department, it goes to the fire department, it goes to the codes office, it goes to the DPW — before it comes to the board. That way, the board can see, you know, ‘Hey, the fire chief did not recommend this, why?’ So that would just generate that discussion.”

Myers continued that he would like to see the permit on the village website, with information filled out there routed to all the departments.

“I think that’s a great idea,” Trustee Michelle Twichell said of Myers’ plan. “Really, you should be involved, especially with the closure of streets and the number of people that are going to be in town. I like this idea.”

The conversation took a dark turn as Mayor Michael Ferguson referenced violent actions.

“I think sometimes we take it, because we’re a village, ‘Well, it can never happen here.’ I’m sure Columbine, and many, many other small communities, never thought things could happen there,” he said.

The mayor mentioned that Holland, Michigan used large trucks to block off main intersections during an event. “Why? Look at New Orleans, look at these plazas, look at what happens in Europe. With the state of mental health more recognizable today, people are just plowing through people.”

Ferguson concluded, “Let’s be proactive in keeping our residents and our visitors safe, as opposed to reactive. I think we’ve become reactive too much, need to become a little more proactive. I’ll take part of that blame for not following through on (the permit application) as well. We’ll get it done.”

“I mentioned this — not to be that guy, but you hired me to be that guy — in the past, that events that we do (have) soft road closures. I don’t like soft road closures,” Myers said. “It’s a barricade that gets moved throughout the day as vendors are coming and going. I think… if the road’s closed, then it’s closed. If the vendors need to set up, that’s fine, but then you set a time: ‘OK, at 8 a.m. at every morning of this festival, the road’s closed.’ And we utilize a hard barrier, like a DPW dump truck.”

Myers said that taking those steps would protect against accidents, as well as malicious behavior. Ferguson noted a recent accident where a vehicle crashed through a gym window.

“It can happen anywhere, it doesn’t matter where you are,” the mayor warned. “Nothing wrong with being cautious.”

Myers also mentioned that firefighter Brendan Pieszak completed paramedic school the week of Aug. 12. “He had the highest grade point average of the whole class, so he really represented Fredonia the right way,” the chief said.

Pieszak will sit for the state final in September “and we anticipate him being online by early October at the latest. He’s chugging right along, very happy to report on that,” Myers said.