Fredonia water project work halted over lack of funds
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Fredonia's water project had its tap shut off Monday. Trustees intend to turn it back on, though.
The village board voted to suspend its relationship with project engineers LaBella until Fredonia has its promised grant money for the project in hand. It came out at the trustees' workshop Monday that Fredonia is paying LaBella through the village water fund -- but the fund is just about dry.
Trustee LeeAnn Lazarony proposed a resolution to put LaBella on hiatus, stating that the project needs a financial adviser. Village officials have one in mind, whom they did not name, but has worked with Treasurer Erlyssa LeBeau in the past.
"We need to move forward with the project, but we need to also make sure we have all of our funding in place to do this," Lazarony said. "We don't have a separate fund at the moment for this. It's just causing me a little angst that we haven't properly prepared for the financial end of this at this point.
"We have been approved for monies, $17 million, but we don't have the check in our hand yet. We need to do a little halt, and make sure our funding is all in place."
Lazarony asked LeBeau to confirm that the village has been paying LaBella out of its water fund. LeBeau did so, stating that LaBella was paid about $280,000 so far.
In addition, the treasurer later said that she is staring at a $117,000 invoice from LaBella -- but Fredonia only has $51,517 of water fund balance left.
Lazarony hoped to get the financial advisor on board quickly so he can help the board on bond resolutions for the water project. Trustee Paul Wandel said a bonding resolution "will allow us to create a financial bridge until the short term financing from (the state's Environmental Facilities Corporation) can be triggered."
Lazarony sought, and received, a vote on a walk-in resolution at the workshop to halt LaBella. She acknowledged that Fredonia trustees do not normally vote on resolutions at their workshops, but "this is a critical thing that we need to do, in order to take a pause and get our finances in order to move forward."
Lazarony's resolution states that "grant funds for payment have not yet been received... (the) continued incursion of engineering costs before grant funds are received would create financial hardship for the village." The resolution directs LaBella to pause its services indefinitely, until trustees agree to resume them.
Trustee Timothy Mulholland, the newest trustee on the board, wanted to make sure he was clear about the situation. "As I understand it, we're paying LaBella now out of our water fund and it is creating a financial hardship," he said. That's when LeBeau spoke up about the $117,000 invoice.
Lazarony said she has spoken with LaBella's Matt Higgins, and "they understand" why Fredonia wants to halt its services.
The resolution to freeze LaBella passed unanimously, 5-0.
"It's not a statement on the project in general," Mulholland said. Lazarony concurred.
She then stated a desire for itemized listings of the engineers' services. Lazarony was not sure if LaBella does that now. "I don't know. I don't see them," she said.
Later in the workshop, Lazarony stated "I don't understand" the proposed water supply agreement with the North County Water District, hinting that it is too complicated. Wandel said the district is "working to simplify the agreement," and the formula governing its purchase of water from the city of Dunkirk.
"Maybe that's why this pause with LaBella is a good time to do this," Mulholland said. "We're taking a pause and looking at this agreement, they're adjusting the formula, it gives us time to look at it in greater detail."