Dunkirk, Fredonia pump station pact still held up

Aug 29, 2023

An agreement between Fredonia and Dunkirk on testing a pump station that links their water systems remains held up.

The Fredonia Board of Trustees had a legal question about a clause in the resolution that requires the Chautauqua County Board of Health to get involved. Mark Guglielmi of village law firm Webster Szanyi was supposed to look into that. However, he had not gotten back with a response by the trustees’ recent session.

Fredonia’s trustees, who tabled a resolution to pass the agreement about the Vineyard Drive station at their previous meeting, discussed the matter last week.

“The more I read it, it seems like, getting the OK from the Department of Health, I don’t think we’re going to have to do that every time we do it,” Trustee Jon Espersen said. “We’re going to just have to inform them that this is what we are doing. We don’t have to contact them every time we exchange water, according to what I was told.”

Espersen noted there were other things in the resolution that were not in the original 2011 agreement between Fredonia and Dunkirk to maintain the pump station.

For example, the resolution states that no costs will be incurred on the testing. Trustee James Lynden questioned how that would be possible and wanted it clarified in an amendment to the resolution.

He said, “I don’t know if the state even allows you to send water without billing. If it’s an exchange, if you send an extra 100,000 gallons to them and they don’t send that much to you, do you want to be paid for the difference, or are you going to just let it all go?”

Mayor Douglas Essek replied, “We’re supposed to reciprocate the exact same amounts without any payment. If the state of New York wants to come down on the city of Dunkirk and the village of Fredonia and arrest somebody, then come see me.”

Espersen stated the 2011 agreement and the tabled resolution ought to be separated, as they serve different purposes. Lynden disagreed. The 2011 agreement covers both testing and emergency use of the pump station, but the resolution only covers a new round of testing.

Espersen concluded, with the rest of the trustees’ assent, that it is pointless to argue about the measure until Guglielmi got back to them. Trustee David Bird said earlier the resolution should go ahead, but other trustees disagreed and he was silent as Espersen closed down the discussion.

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