I don’t understand the attack against Trustee Jim Lynden in a recent editorial (Sept. 22). He is a very diligent person who is aware of the actual numbers and facts of our situation.

I also do not understand the false claims about the North County Water District.

When Fredonia was invited to join the North County Water District, the proposal as said to include that Fredonia would 1. have to shut down the reservoir; 2. pay for the interconnect; 3. maintain all of our own infrastructure and 4. in small print there was a reference to if we needed more water we would need to buy it from Erie County.

1. Shutting down the reservoir is ridiculous to me, a fresh water source that at times has been needed by other communities as well, during an emergency. This is a resource for everyone.

2. Paying for the interconnect, our bill goes up.

3. We are still in charge of our infrastructure. We just need better leadership who will work on getting more repairs and upgrades done and oversee maintenance if needed. 4. Buying from Erie County is also more expensive than what we are paying now.

There was a study done which at the time said it would cost $5.5 million to repair the spillway which could be paid back in a period over 30 years. To decommission the reservoir, it would cost $7.3 million and decommissioning is required to be paid in 10 years.

For those keeping track that also costs us a lot more money for the worse option. We do not really have the option to ignore this as, if the spillway floods this will affect people’s properties.

One more point. When we supply our own water, we do not bill ourselves for water use when using water for fighting fires, flushing hydrants, running the fountains and for water breaks. If we decommission our water source, we would then be paying Dunkirk and/or Buffalo for any of those uses again at higher cost to ourselves.

I do not think it would be bad to join the water district if Fredonia could join as a supplier. No one wants crumbling infrastructure but it exists due to the age of our plumbing. Dunkirk has as many water breaks as Fredonia. We need leadership that will buckle down and start upgrading the infrastructure.

We need informed leaders like Lynden to address these issues and stop “kicking the can down the road.”

Mary Fridmann is a Fredonia resident.