Fredonia Mayor Michael Ferguson, right, and former village Trustee James Lynden, left, traded verbal shots Tuesday at a Board of Trustees meeting.

Fredonia Mayor Michael Ferguson and former Trustee James Lynden provided some heat on a frigid February night, getting into an argument about village government.

Ferguson vigorously defended himself after Lynden bashed him at a Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday.

The only speaker in the public comments portion of the meeting, Lynden spent his entire time at the podium criticizing the mayor.

The ex-trustee slammed Ferguson’s claim at a previous meeting that previous boards raised taxes just 53 cents in five years. He rattled off statistics to show that there was actually an increase of $4.06 per $1,000 property assessed over five years.

Since Ferguson took office in January 2024, the village has overspent its budgeted funds, cut its minimum fund balance, raised taxes over the state tax cap – and still needed a loan (in the form of a Revenue Anticipation Note), Lynden continued.

“The mayor leaves no reason for us to believe he knows what is in the best interest of the village with his continued push to buy water from the North County Water District and close our reservoir and water plant, and additionally combine our fire and police services with other municipalities that are in extreme financial stress,” Lynden added.

He ended his comments just as the “three minute buzzer” – a timer kept by Clerk Annemarie Johnston to make sure speakers hold to their allotted three minutes – went off.

“Your timing is perfect, Jim,” said Ferguson. “Because I’d like to talk about the last seven budgets that you were a part of, only one broke even without getting into reserve funds. I’d like to ask you about 17 years of requests to dredge the reservoir, which is now 14 feet deep at its largest point.”

“This is the public portion,” Trustee Nicole Siracuse tried to interject.

“This is the public portion – and the public portion is ended,” Ferguson said. “If we’re going to take shots, we’re going to take shots.”

Speaking with a raised voice to Lynden, he said, “Under your guidance, in seven years, the fire department increased threefold. Under you! Why did you do this?”

Siracuse pleaded, “Not the time and place. Three minutes is done, it’s not a back and forth.

Ferguson and Lynden briefly continued to holler at each other. Ferguson said, “If you want to come in here and help, help with something positive, Because you’re real good at the negative.”

Lynden shot back he tried to warn and explain to village officials that their 2024-25 budget was not a good one, before they passed it. Ferguson acidically commented that Lynden helped run the village budget “into the ground seven straight years.”

“All right, that’s enough! That is enough,” Trustee Jon Espersen yelled over the din. “This is not what the public portion is for.”

The argument ended.

Ferguson apologized for his outburst at the end of the meeting. He called it “unprofessional behavior.”