Mark Twichell holds a poster with numbers from James Sedota’s analysis of Fredonia water options.

Fredonia’s “Save Our Reservoir” group was out in force at the Board of Trustees meeting. Nevertheless, the board authorized Mayor Michael Ferguson to sign an engineering contract for a move to the North County Water District’s supply.

The $2.7 million contract with LaBella is a key step in the village’s plan to buy water from an outside source and shut down its own plant and reservoir. Before they authorized Ferguson to sign it, trustees heard complaints about water issues from eight residents.

Several, including opening speaker Mark Twichell, pushed an economic analysis of village water options done by the late James Sedota. The former village treasurer reportedly found that Fredonia would save $52 million over 30 years if it repaired its own water plant and reservoir, rather than acquire water from an outside source.

Twichell offered copies of Sedota’s analysis to Ferguson and the four trustees present. None seemed particularly interested. Trustee LeeAnn Lazarony did not attend.

Andrew Ludwig — who has complained the OBSERVER has not properly covered Sedota’s analysis — spoke next. In his typically heated tone, he accused village officials of “fear mongering.”

He claimed Ferguson was pulling numbers out of thin air, and also pointed out LaBella’s own studies show that keeping the village’s own water system is a cheaper option in the long term.

Kara Christina, a former village trustee, also backed Sedota’s study. She said while current trustees have said the numbers are wrong, she questioned if they even looked at them.

Christina acknowledged that Fredonia just won a lawsuit filed against its water plan. The suit was filed by Gladys Sedota and Marie Sedota — James Sedota’s family — along with former Trustee James Lynden.

Christina said while State Supreme Court Justice Grace Hanlon allowed the project to go ahead, “that doesn’t mean it’s the prudent or right course.”

Gladys Sedota defended her late husband and his analysis. She added concern that Ferguson is “trying to villainize those of use who are here, we’ve taken the time to be here” on social media.

“I’m sorry you feel vindicated, I’m sorry you feel the need to villainize us,” she said. “We are your constituents too, we pay taxes.”

Sedota also questioned LaBella’s experience with large water projects during her comments.

Many of the other familiar critics of the village’s water plans also spoke. Former Mayor Athanasia Landis questioned Ferguson on his assertion that 20% of registered Fredonia voters would have to petition for a referendum on the decision. She said that it was only 20% of those who voted in the last election, a considerably lower number.

Cheryl Bailen, Lynden, and former Village Attorney Samuel Drayo also spoke up. Anyone interested in seeing the full comments of all the speakers can view the meeting video on the Fredonia Access YouTube page.

There was also a concerned letter read out by Treasurer Erlyssa LeBeau. Dave Fridmann expressed worry that Fredonia and LaBella are using old flow rate numbers in their plans. He said the numbers come from when Fredonia thought it was losing massive amounts of water — but it was later found meter issues were causing the skewed readings.

Ferguson sat through it all looking like a baseball umpire, in a black suit coat and a black shirt with an athletic company logo. His only statement was: “I want to remind the public that the dam and spillway has not been insurable for 20 years.”