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The OBSERVER’s View

The OBSERVER’s View: With state support, hospital beats the odds

When state Gov. Kathy Hochul came to the north county on Thursday, Brooks-TLC was a big winner. For starters, the new north county hospital that will be located at 412 E. Main St. is making progress. Construction crews are entering the site daily — and a shell of a structure is evident to passersby. In addition, Hochul announced another $50 million that will be earmarked for the facility, making the state’s total contribution for the $223 million facility at $124 million. "While Washington may be defunding hospitals, here in New York, we're building hospitals. We believe in our ...

The OBSERVER’s View: Faltering Fredonia keeps leaking cash

You do not need to have a background in accounting to understand the troubles that continue with the village of Fredonia’s finances. Besides having a negative fund balance that is near $1 million, two of its major revenue sources are struggling. According to figures announced at a meeting earlier this month, the water and sewer funds both spent more than they took in for 2025-26, according to the treasurer's figures. Year-end revenue for the water fund was $2,190,004 against $2,540,000 in expenses. That comes out to a net income of minus $349,996. The fund balance in place registered ...

Is now the time for police merger?

Across Dunkirk and Fredonia – the north county’s two largest municipalities — there are a total of five law-enforcement agencies that can oversee the city and village. Besides their own departments, University Police, New York State Police and the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Department are always nearby. This for a total of 22,000 residents, that includes a State University campus. With financial troubles evident in the two governments, something has to give. Population continues to decrease while costs keep going up. On the positive side, both municipal departments have ...

The OBSERVER’s View: Bottom line closes another church

Another incredibly important parish in the history of northern Chautauqua County learned of its fate this weekend. During the 9:30 a.m. Mass, it was announced that St. Anthony’s Church in Fredonia would be closing. Members of the church’s finance committee made the announcement, citing declining attendance and donation rates. The closure will leave Fredonia without a Catholic church. St. Joseph’s on Main Street closed as of Jan. 1, 2025. As sudden as the decision seems, there is no question the tumult in the Buffalo diocese has a lot to do with all of the transitions. Facing ...

The OBSERVER’s View: Important addition to county business

It was roughly six years ago that Chautauqua County made a pitch for an Amazon regional distribution center that, when completed, would have been one of the largest in the world. County Executive PJ Wendel, Mark Geise, county IDA director and former U.S. Rep. Tom Reed all advocated for Amazon to consider Chautauqua County, which was pushing land the county owns in Ripley as well as the Mason Industrial Park in Ellicott. The project never came to fruition, but there was a lot of genuine excitement around the possibility at the time. Last month, Amazon made a quieter entry into ...

Merger progress stays quiet, even after funding

We are not against the recent action by the Chautauqua County Legislature to approve additional funding to the town of Pomfret for a study to investigate options for shared services and mergers. We do believe, however, that not enough is being said regarding where the effort stands. In July, lawmakers approved a resolution to award Pomfret $25,000 from the county's Government Reduction initiative for the initiative. The money is not part of the county's budget but rather will be coming from its reserve accounts. To his credit, Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel called upon the ...