North County Water District Board member Terry Niebel wants the district to handle potential business with Fredonia, instead of just the city of Dunkirk. Photo by M.J. Stafford

“We don’t have the answers. Everybody has questions.”

North County Water District Board Chairman John Walker summed up the district’s stance on a new Fredonia connection with that quote last week. He said that at the end of an approximately 15-minute discussion at the board’s monthly meeting about the plan, which is part of a proposal by Dunkirk Mayor Wilfred Rosas to fully supply Fredonia with water.

“This is a friendly type of dialogue,” Dunkirk Department of Public Works Director Randy Woodbury said at the beginning of the discussion. “If we can help them, we want to be there to help.”

Board member and Chautauqua County Legislator Terry Niebel, R-Sheridan, had several questions about the city’s proposal. For example, he wanted to know how much Dunkirk, the sole water supplier to the district, gives it each day. Woodbury said Dunkirk’s water plant sends between 300,000 and 500,000 gallons per day to the district — but produces 3.5 million gallons per day in total.

He also told Niebel that the city’s contract with the North County Water District explicitly allows Dunkirk to negotiate with Fredonia separately, outside of the water district framework.

“When you start doing that, couldn’t you start doing that with other municipalities?” asked Niebel.

Woodbury said no. “It would make much more sense for the water district to go there,” in a place such as Westfield, than to a locality that borders Dunkirk. “The only reason we proposed to go directly to Fredonia is we adjoin Fredonia,” he said.

Niebel said any deal with Fredonia should not go through Dunkirk, but through the water district.

“Some of your ideas are a little different than what I talked about,” Walker said to Woodbury. “At the same time, they’re different thoughts.”

Niebel said he was concerned that Rosas proposed the use of Chautauqua County funding for a study on connections with Fredonia. “My position is, if we’re going to use any kind of county funds, it’s going to have to be through North County Water District,” he said.

“It was just an idea. It wasn’t intended to anger anybody,” Woodbury said.

Walker addressed the perception that the city and water district are “pushing” for more business with Fredonia. The proposal at the March North County Water District meeting to supply SUNY Fredonia with a new line came out of “a simple question, is anything being done about Fredonia State?” he said. The university had to use bottled water for a few days during an early March boil water order.

Fredonia Trustee Michelle Twichell was at Thursday’s meeting and said that she had not yet had a chance to talk to all her fellow trustees about the proposal. Walker reiterated Woodbury’s position that an existing connection — an 8-inch line on Dunkirk’s Main Street Extension to a pumping station on Vineyard Drive near the municipal border — cannot supply Fredonia’s regular water needs.

“We have to service our regular customers first,” Woodbury said. “We can’t compromise fire protection for those to squeeze more water through a twig on Vineyard Drive.”

He added, “I hope the Fredonia reservoir is perfect for 100,000 years. I hope the ravine doesn’t get closer to the water plant than it has. … If they’re sure everything will be fine, I’m fine, too.”

Later in the meeting, Dunkirk town Supervisor Juan Pagan stated support for North County Water District expansion.

“The more people we can welcome into that group, the more it will enhance all of us,” he said. “If we can work together, we can progress together. If anyone else wants to come on board, they’re more than welcome.”