Judging from the most recent Fredonia Village Board meeting, there is a definite divide among trustees and Mayor Doug Essek. Adding to this current problem is the lack of two representatives on the board as well as the growing amount of major issues that face the municipality.

At this week’s virtual gathering, there were more concerns and criticisms voiced than having action taken on any issue. Most of the discussion revolved around Roger Britz, village trustee, who commented in the OBSERVER that with illness and two open trustee seats it is a “weird time.”

Both Essek and Trustee James Lynden went on the offensive. “I want to make it clear to the board and village residents that I was able to communicate to our residents, department heads, trustees and many of my constituents every day except the day of my surgery as a result of my heart attack,” said Essek, who had been battling pneumonia and COVID earlier this month. “I spoke to many of them while in the hospital and since. The village hall is just a building — with technology we’ve been able to move to a more technologically way of doing business.”

For the record, the OBSERVER reached out to Britz regarding the current state of the village due to a lack of returned phone calls to both Lynden and Trustee EvaDawn Bashaw. Britz, in his interview, shined some light on what’s happening. The other trustees did not respond.

Fredonia could be headed for another internal crisis. Currently there is no official village attorney and there are major issues with the water system. With no one overseeing day-to-day operations, what happens in a worst-case scenario?

Dunkirk’s council meetings, as have been noted, are hostile. Fredonia, however, is teetering on disaster.