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Michelle Twichell, center, speaks with former Dunkirk Mayor Wilfred Rosas. At left is former village Trustee James Lynden, who also voted against the water plan.
Fredonia Trustee Michelle Twichell heavily criticized the Dec. 26 vote to decommission the water plant and purchase water from Dunkirk, in a Thursday conversation with the OBSERVER.
“They rushed into it. We didn’t really get to discuss much,” she said. “Then all of a sudden it’s like, let’s take a vote.” Twichell and James Lynden, who is no longer on the Fredonia Board of Trustees, voted against the move. Trustees Jon Espersen, David Bird and Nicole Siracuse voted for it. Bird is also no longer a trustee.
Twichell said she understood the Chautauqua County Health Department sought a decision on the village water system by the end of 2023, as part of its action plan to address serious deficiencies at the plant. However, she said the plan chosen “seems crazy to me,” noting no one is sure how much it will cost to install water pumps to get Dunkirk water, or the cost of the electricity to power them.
She criticized a proposal to build a new storage tank on Spoden Road or at the treatment plant site. “If we were to build a new tank like they’re proposing … to pump that water all the way up there and distribute it, it makes no sense.”
Twichell continued the village would eliminate a major revenue source if it stopped producing water. She is seeking a dollar estimate on just how much it could lose from Village Treasurer Erlyssa LeBeau.
Fellow Trustee Jon Espersen took criticism from Twichell for several of his positions in the water debate.
Espersen has stated Dunkirk will offer water at an annual rate increase of 3% a year. “How do you know that’s going to be what they’re going to do?” Twichell asked. “What if all of a sudden they say, ‘this is the only amount of water we can give you and you’re responsible to pump it into every corner of the village?’” She also wondered if future business expansion in the village could be stymied by a Dunkirk refusal to increase water supply to Fredonia.
She responded to Espersen’s concerns about SUNY Fredonia’s water supply, “What about the residents? What about the taxpayers in the village?”
Twichell noted that Dunkirk recently did tens of millions of dollars of improvements to its water system. “They’re struggling to pay that bill. They would just love all the customers we have… to pay off their debt. But why are we helping another community when we should be helping ourselves?”
Twichell’s criticisms continued:
— She said the Board of Trustees failed to do its due diligence in not referring the water issue to the Fredonia Planning Board. Also, she said, the Dec. 26 “resolution failed to consider competitive bids from other regional providers.”
— She said Dunkirk’s water source, Lake Erie, is full of contaminants. “We don’t have sewage going into our water. We don’t have micro plastics.” The Fredonia Reservoir is fed by groundwater.
“I want to take another look at what we have to do in our water plant,” Twichell said. “That would be such a loss of revenue if we let someone make revenue off us.”
She concluded about the plan passed by trustees, “There’s still so many questions. How much is all of it going to cost?”
Stating that she has received a lot of complaints about the Dec. 26 vote, Twichell approached the OBSERVER in part because “those people need a voice,” she said.
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