The meeting for the discussion of the proposed Fredonia water system is scheduled for Thursday at the new town of Pomfret building on Chestnut Road. For convenience of the public, it should have been at the Fredonia Opera House as was done for the last citizens meeting with the Village officials and engineers

The meeting is important as it will have engineers and others present to explain the purchase of water from the North Chautauqua County Water District and answer questions. The meeting should be broadcast on the public access channel for those that may not be able to attend.

If the village can resolve the issues with the reservoir — dredging, location and construction of a new filtration plant at a fair cost, dam security, etc. — then keeping the reservoir and providing water to its residents and Pomfret water districts as it has done for many years, seems less complicated and less costly.

However, if this cannot be accomplished, then the present North County Water District contract, the recently proposed operation and maintenance agreement with the district and the proposed joint ownership of a water tower with Pomfret need to be considered, reviewed and modified where needed. Those proposed arrangements are complicated and long term. They can easily create misunderstandings, unfair allocation of District costs among members and significant expense.

For example, will Fredonia be assessed the costs of district improvements that don’t benefit Fredonia? If the costs of the district are allocated to district members according to water usage, then Fredonia will pay the major share of all the District costs, even if those costs may not benefit the Village. This inequity needs to be addressed. To my knowledge there has been no review or discussion by the Village Board regarding the terms and conditions of the NCWD contract and how they apply to the Village.

Also, no proposed agreement has yet been presented to the Village Board to review regarding the proposed jointly owned water tower between the Village and the Pomfret. Joint ownership is often fraught with problems. The proposed water tower should be devoted to use by the Village and Pomfret water districts under contract with the village. If the Village continues to be responsible for providing water to Pomfret water Districts, then Pomfret’s water will I assume come from the new water tower. Is there enough capacity in the proposed water tower to serve all of Fredonia as well as all the Pomfret water districts served by Fredonia (some are very large areas) and potential future water customers? These questions need study and answers.

The administration of the water tower and ownership should remain with the Village as the water tower will serve Fredonia and the Pomfret water districts under contract with the Village. Pomfret should share in the costs of the construction of the water tower and the expense of maintenance and operation on a fair and equitable basis assuming the water tower also will serve Pomfret water districts. Answers to these issues can be complicated, but need to be discussed and resolved as soon as possible.

There are other issues involved in a jointly owned water tower. Who is responsible for maintaining the proposed water tower? Who receives the water? Is it Fredonia, Pomfret water districts, Town of Dunkirk Route 60 water district? How is use of the water from the water tower to be regulated? Will there be restrictions on the use and amount of water sold from the water tower? How are costs allocated? Is there enough capacity in the water tower to serve all of the Village and the Pomfret water districts and the Town of Dunkirk Route 60 Water District? The proposed water tower will have a capacity of approximately 1.5 million gallons. Is this sufficient to serve Fredonia and all the Pomfret water districts under contract with the Village? The Fredonia reservoir has approximately 210 million gallons of usable storage water capacity.

Can the city efficiently and in compliance with all regulations and at a reasonable cost serve all the demands of the North County Water District (a very large area with many customers) over a long period of time? If the city cannot do this at any time in the future, is the County willing to take over the city water plant? Will the city agree? The present NCWD contract with Dunkirk is a long term contract (40 years). This question needs to be considered and a solution given. The Village needs experienced attorneys to be involved to review the water contracts with the Mayor and Board and offer advice to the Village.

There needs to be convincing evidence presented that the North County Water District will satisfy all Village water needs now and in the future at a reasonable cost.

Regarding public comments at Village meetings, residents should be permitted to address the Village Board not only at Village Board meetings, but also at the Thursday meeting where the Mayor and Village Board and engineers will be present. There may be issues the Board and engineers did not consider or adequately disclose and good ideas presented by Fredonia residents. Residents need to have the right to ask questions.

Reasonable conditions on speaking such as time limits would be in order, with exceptions where additional time is needed. The cost of a refurbished and updated water system, whether Village reservoir or North County Water system, will be expensive and the residents of Fredonia will be responsible for paying the costs through their property taxes and water billings.

The Mayor and Village Board should not deny Village residents the right to be heard at the public information meeting regarding the Village water system, a system which the Village residents will be responsible to pay for through their taxes and water charges. The Mayor and Village Board should allow Village residents the right to ask questions and voice their opinions and concerns on any issues regarding the Village water system. The Mayor and Village Board should encourage and welcome questions and comments from its residents, after all it will be their water system. Hopefully the issues discussed above can be answered at the meeting.

Sam Drayo Jr. is a Fredonia resident and previously served as attorney for the village.