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Fredonia's push to join the North County Water District rolls on, with planning meetings on Sept. 21 and Sept. 25.
Village officials reported on the meetings at this week's Board of Trustees meeting.
Mayor Michael Ferguson stated the Sept. 21 meeting was "the monthly meeting of the Fredonia water system improvement group, spearheaded by LaBella." The mayor said Chautauqua County Legislator and water district board member Bob Scudder, Pomfret Town Supervisor Dan Pacos, and village trustees LeeAnn Lazarony and Paul Wandel were among the attendees.
Ferguson said the Sept. 25 meeting was "an intermunicipal meeting reviewing the status of the project with engineers and others. Currently the project stands at a cost of $17.7 million, down from the $17.9 million originally projected. Construction costs will be announced shortly."
Lazarony said the meetings were "very knowledgeable, I got a lot of information." Speaking to Ferguson and LaBella's Matt Higgins after the meetings, she brought up "some financing issues that I thought we might need to address. I think we've come to a resolution on that."
Wandel said he met on-site with LaBella officials at the current village treatment plant about "some relatively minor issues with our new chlorinator system, specifically an intermittent airlock in the chlorine transfer line. Labella provided several suggestions to address the issue. We also discussed issues with the choline dosing pump, and the chlorine room exhaust fan. Labella will be investigating issues, with (board) resolutions forthcoming."
Wandel also addressed the Sept. 25 meeting, stating that he had "five basic points to bring forward based" on it. Sirens went off as he spoke, with the nearby Fredonia Fire Department rolling to a call.
"First, spot location of the planned shared water tank has not yet been identified. But it is narrowed to two potential sites off of Fredonia-Stockton Road, at the high elevation areas. Two, LaBella reports that the total cost for the water source project will be identified by Rodriguez Construction in late October.
"Three, the importance of the signed...intermunicipal agreement between the village and the NCWD was emphasized again. This agreement simply states that the village intends to purchase potable water from the district. Any additional contracts with terms and conditions can follow.
"Four, having an intermunicipal agreement in place will provide two important benefits. It will accelerate and promote any grant funding opportunities. The village recognizes the priority level and is fast tracking the intermunicipal agreement contract.
"Five, I questioned Higgins regarding residents' questions about water pressures in our distribution systems, and whether the new interconnect system would cause adverse impacts. LaBella is using a hydraulic model in their design for the project, which has a high degree of accuracy. Based on the hydraulic model study, and communication with fire chief (Joshua) Myers, a total of nine village fire hydrants have volume issues."
Wandel said the hydrants have a volume less than the required 500 gallons per minute. Possible solutions include upscaling pipes or double-feeding them with more lines.
He added that LaBella is communicating with SUNY Fredonia over any potential pressure issues on their campus.
Wandel went on to discuss a water symposium he attended in Buffalo. He learned about things such as leak detection, water plant security and grant writing.
"What I have learned over the past two years is that surrounding water municipalities typically network and collaborate to support each others' enterprises," Wandel said. This is encouraging and highlights why we must maintain a strong network."
He emphasized the "importance of rebuilding our below grade water distribution infrastructure. It is old and failing. We have many water main breaks, especially this past winter. LaBella did offer an engineering proposal earlier this year. The village determined that financial restrictions limited our ability to proceed at that time. However, we will keep that project on our short term radar."