Fredonia Police Chief David Price made a plea for more officers this week.

It was a rough week at Fredonia Village Hall. Water system problems, staffing worries, a power outage and a health concern all caused stressful moments.

A boil water order was finally lifted Friday, but crews had to fix a water main break on Burnett Drive in the village Thursday.

Wednesday’s Board of Trustees meeting featured much hand-wringing over the village’s financial situation — and two department heads asking for more employees.

Charles LaBarbera, chief code enforcement officer, was the first. He asked for a clerk, which was cut from the 2024 budget. LaBarbera asserted that he is drowning in paperwork, and it delays the receipt of revenue from permitting fees as a result.

Police Chief David Price then made a plea for more officers.

“We’re not over on any budget line. If I don’t hire new I may be without three people the rest of the year,” he said. “I don’t know how I’m going to do it. If I can find somebody, it has to be done now. The longer I delay, someone’s going to get scooped up by another agency.”

Price said a retirement that is coming up in March will put him down three full-time officers. The department no longer has any part-time officers, he said.

“I need people to put in boots,” Price concluded.

Trustee Jon Espersen said he would be fine with Price opening interviews for a hire. Trustee Nicole Siracuse said she couldn’t see the village doing a hiring freeze — proposed at the previous trustees meeting, but not on Wednesday’s agenda — while critical positions need to be filled.

The Board of Trustees did hire Bryce Fisher as a new firefighter Wednesday, after previously voting against it.

Trustee Michelle Twichell is wary of making new hires as the village deals with a financial crunch that caused it to seek an $825,000 Revenue Anticipation Note. She was the only trustee to vote against Fisher’s hire on Wednesday and offered a dreary assessment of the situation.

“Unfortunately it seems we have overspent in our budget this year,” she said, wondering how the village could afford to hire firefighters and police officers. “This is really a terrible time to be in. For us to figure this out — I just don’t know where the money’s going to come from.”

Espersen said he wants to convene a special meeting to talk about specific cuts the village can make right now, without having to wait for the next budget cycle. His fellow trustees were agreeable to the idea but no meeting was scheduled as of Friday morning.

Wednesday’s meeting was missing a prominent figure: Mayor Michael Ferguson. Espersen said of Ferguson, “He spent the day in the hospital, had a heart procedure done. Hopefully he’ll be back very soon, we’ll find out more as the days and weeks go by. I’m sure there will be some kind of announcement coming out, if it’s going to be a long-term thing.” Espersen, acting as vice mayor, ran the meeting in Ferguson’s absence.

Ferguson was apparently well enough to resume social media posting about Fredonia’s issues on Thursday. He offered several updates about the power outage that evening.

The outage was due to a blown transformer on McAllister Road, just over the village line in the town of Pomfret. About 1,000 customers were affected — including Fredonia High School which had after-school activities disrupted.