Village cites lawsuit in curtailing water comments | News, Sports, Jobs

Fredonia Mayor Michael Ferguson criticized a lawsuit against the village Board of Trustees’ Dec. 26 vote on the water system.

The Fredonia Board of Trustees decided to cut off any comment about water issues during Wednesday’s session.

Mayor Michael Ferguson began the meeting with a statement: “We want to remind people that the board is not required to permit members of the public to speak at a public board meeting. The Open Meetings Law of New York State does not require boards to allow members of the public to speak at such meetings. A board meeting is not a meeting of the public, but rather, a meeting of the board held in public, so that those in attendance can observe the board discussing and transacting business.”

Ferguson went on to mention the lawsuit against the village for trustees’ Dec. 26 vote to decommission the water plant, draw down the reservoir and buy water from Dunkirk.

In a press release issued late Wednesday, the Citizens Action Group for Saving Our Reservoir called out Ferguson and the trustees for prohibiting all public comments from those in attendance at Wednesday night’s meeting.

“Just as the mayor and trustee candidates hid behind the LaBella report late last year, refusing to take any public position on the village’s water issues until the LaBella study was released, they are now hiding behind the recent Article 78 filed against the village,” the group said in a statement. “The mayor and trustees have so far refused to answer any questions from the public, and now they are disallowing public questions and comments at open meetings. Questions and comments that are almost entirely in opposition to their highly unpopular actions to decommission the Fredonia Reservoir and buy water from the city of Dunkirk. Our group understands that trustees are not required by law to allow public comments at their meetings. That does not make it right.”