Get ready for some more talk about Fredonia’s water situation.

A meeting about the village’s water plans will be at Fredonia High School on July 9, Fredonia officials stated at a Board of Trustees workshop last week. A time was not immediately announced.

Trustee Paul Wandel has sought the meeting for weeks in the hopes of fully explaining where the village is at in its quest to connect with the North County Water District. Representatives of LaBella, the engineering firm running the project, are expected to attend.

It won’t be the first public information meeting in Fredonia’s long-running water saga, a situation spurred by the poor condition of its aging treatment plant and reservoir. A previous meeting at the Fredonia Opera House featured angry statements from members of Save Our Reservoir — a strident group of villagers opposed to their government’s inclination to shut down the treatment plant and reservoir and buy water from the NCWD.

Save Our Reservoir, which wants to repair the plant and reservoir and stay away from the NCWD, has been the most passionate and outspoken group in the water debate. But some feel that a “silent majority” in Fredonia favors ditching the problem-laden plant and reservoir, and getting NCWD water. That might never be proven, as village officials refuse to hold a public referendum on the matter.

An overwhelming majority of respondents to a recent OBSERVER website poll think that position is wrong, and Fredonians should vote on the village’s water future in a referendum.

There is plenty of reading to do on Fredonia’s village website ahead of the July 9 meeting. Mayor Michael Ferguson noted at the trustees’ workshop last week that

LaBella’s document about its NCWD connection plans is on the website.

The document is included with more LaBella items, dating back to its original November 2023 Board of Trustees presentation, under a new “Water Improvement Project” tab on the village website. Fredonia promises regular updates about the project on the water tab.

Ferguson said hard copies of LaBella’s plans are also available at Village Hall.