According to the OBSERVER, certain resolutions and commitments will be made by the Fredonia Board of Trustees on Sept. 10 concerning the Village of Fredonia water system and the possible closing of the Village reservoir. Any proposed resolution concerning the source of Village water and potentially closing the reservoir is of critical importance to the public and to the well-being of Fredonia.

There have been public meetings in the past with the village engineers regarding the village water system and possible alternatives. However, no definitive conclusion has been made. The Village Board has now set Sept. 10 as the date four decisions will be made, including resolutions regarding the environmental impact and which option to choose for future water service for the Fredonia i.e. keep the present gravity fed reservoir system of providing water or join the North Chautauqua County Water District (NCCWD).

The various resolutions proposed for the Sept. 10 meeting involve major decisions involving the Village water supply. However, the complete text of the proposed resolutions have not been made public by the Village Board and they should be. They need to be made public in the OBSERVER as soon as possible. The public can’t make intelligent comments on resolutions they haven’t seen.

The resolutions proposed should be well-advertised (more than once) in the Observer prior to the September 10 date, at least by Friday. That way the public has adequate time to review the entire resolutions and make comments on or before the meeting date.

In this way the public has the opportunity to review the resolutions ahead of time and express their opinions to their elected representatives. Even a simple amendment to a traffic ordinance requires a public hearing with prior publication in the OBSERVER of the full text of the amendment. A decision regarding a possible change in the water system for the Village involving closing its present reservoir gravity fed water system is a major decision, if not the most important decision in its history.

If the village does decide to contract with and join the North Chautauqua County Water District (NCCWD) as seems to be the direction of the Village Board, then there first needs to be a contract between the village and the NCCWD for the village to review and approve spelling out clearly the terms and conditions of the sale of water to the Village. This should be done before a decision is made by the Village Board to connect to the NCCWD or retain engineers to apply for grants or retain bonding attorneys or perform any other work which would incur costs to the Village taxpayers. To my knowledge, not even a draft contract has been submitted by the NCCWD for the Village Board to review.

It’s not in the best interest of the village to join or be a part of the existing NCCWD contract which involves six municipalities. According to the existing NCCWD contract, the rate charged to the village would include construction, debt service and operation and maintenance costs incurred by the District for the benefit of all six municipalities which are included in the NCCWD.

If the Village does contract with the District for water, the rate or charge to the Village for water needs to be limited to those costs incurred solely for the benefit of the Village. This needs to be very clear in any contract between the Village and NCCWD. Will the District agree to this? What provisions will be made in the contract to control costs and rates charged to the Village? How is the rate charged for water sold to the Village to be determined? What is the term of the proposed contract? What happens to the various Pomfret Water Districts which the Village has contracts with? What restrictions will be placed on the Village?

These and other questions need to be answered. The Village should not agree to join the NCCWD, unless it first reviews and approves an agreement with the District which is acceptable to and in the best interests of the Village.

For the Village to incur engineering fees, legal fees or any other costs or to make any commitments for a new water system with the NCCWD without Fredonia first having an acceptable contract in place with the NCCWD, is placing the cart before the horse.

Sam Drayo Jr. is the former attorney for the village and Fredonia resident.