Sam Drayo

Lake Erie State Park will get a line into the Portland Pomfret Dunkirk Sewer District (PPD), and the BOCES LoGuidice Center reportedly wants one too.

Meanwhile, former Village Attorney Samuel Drayo continues his campaign against Fredonia’s latest contract to serve PPD.

Drayo repeated his complaints that the contract shortchanges Fredonia taxpayers at a Board of Trustees meeting last week. Trustees approved the new line from Lake Erie State Park at the meeting.

The park requested the connection, according to the resolution passed by trustees. It will be a sanitary sewer connection only, with no storm drain.

The vote to approve the connection was 4-0. Trustee Christine Cruz Keefe abstained from the vote, without explanation.

Trustee Jon Espersen mentioned earlier that BOCES’ facility on Fredonia-Stockton Road wants to hook up to PPD. He discussed it in a meeting with Trustee Paul Wandel and David Felt, supervisor of Fredonia’s wastewater plant.

“BOCES had expressed an interest in hooking up to our sewer system and they kind of did that through the county Department of Health,” Espersen said. “This is not the first time they have expressed an interest in doing that. The three of us have a lot of questions about how that’s going to affect Fredonia, and any cost associated with that.”

A meeting between BOCES, county, town of Pomfret and village representatives was set about the issue. “We have a ton of questions we need to ask to see how that is going to impact us,” Espersen said. “So, stay tuned.”

Drayo is certainly tuned in about the village’s latest contract with PPD to provide wastewater treatment. He has vigorously criticized the deal at recent village meetings and did so again.

“There’s been a lot of talk and I’ve heard a lot of people complaining about the (contract) and the substantial loss we’re going to have in revenue,” he said.

Drayo said village users must pay $8 per 1,000 gallons used but PPD users pay $2.90 per 1,000 gallons under the new contract. “That’s a subsidy! I don’t think it’s legal, I don’t think it’s proper,” he declared. “This is a county district. The county should subsidize it, not the village taxpayers and residents.”

Drayo alleged that the “reduced rate to an outside-of-village user” would cost the village $654,000 in revenue over the next five years. “That money is needed to pay for the costs of maintaining and operating the wastewater treatment plant. Our village residents are going to have to make up for that.”

He called it “probably the worst contract in my years with the village that I’ve ever seen.” Drayo also stated that in the original contract he negotiated with PPD 20 years ago, the outside-of-village users paid the same cost as Fredonians.

In a familiar scene, Mayor Michael Ferguson tried to shoo Drayo off the speakers’ podium because he went past his allotted speaking time — but as usual, Drayo wasn’t having it. “These are important things that should be heard and I’m not holding up anybody — the place is empty,” the lawyer said.

He later said village residents ought to get a 61% reduction in water rates from the North County Water District if Fredonia continues its plan to join, to make up for the similar rate cut that out-of-village sewer users get.

“The language in this is going to be for 40 years,” Drayo cautioned. “Now is the time to get it straight and clear, so you don’t have problems in the future, and that’s not happening right now.”

After a few more minutes of complaining, Drayo noted the contract language allows the village to terminate it unilaterally. “It needs to be corrected as soon as possible, and someone has to pick up the ball, and go forward with this.”

Ferguson told Drayo the contract was signed. Drayo demanded a copy and suggested corrections.