Repair Plans Flow For Barker Common Fountain
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A tree branch damaged a fountain in Fredonia's Barker Common and the village is taking steps to get repairs.
"I did have a (sculptor) Bill Koch come down and take a look at the fountain," Trustee Michelle Twichell said at Monday's Board of Trustees meeting. "Scott (Marsh, Department of Public Works director) told me that there was a branch that had fallen on it, and it had broken the neck of the top of the fountain in the east common, and also the swan that it was holding."
Twichell continued that Koch "told me that he would be able to come in and he'd have to remove both of those pieces, both heads, and bring it back to his shop." His work is necessary "so we're able to use that fountain this summer," she said.
Koch was set to offer an exact cost "but he said a ballpark figure would be $3,500," Twichell said. Marsh and DPW will assist Koch in reinstalling the pieces.
"I would like to move on this. I mean, I think it's pretty important to repair that fountain," she added. "Otherwise, you can't use the fountain this summer, and I didn't think the cost was that bad."
"We have to repair it," said trustee Jon Espersen.
"It's terrible luck that we just got the other side repaired and during a storm, a tree (branch) has to fall directly on that one," said Mayor Douglas Essek. "If we didn't have bad luck with those fountains, we wouldn't have any luck at all."
Essek was referring to a 2021 repair to the fountain in the western side of Barker Common. That was also sculpted by Koch. It was necessary after an act of vandalism in 2019.
The trustees did not take any formal action Monday on the latest repair job.