Fredonia hired Amy Johnson as a new clerk Thursday.

The Board of Trustees approved her hiring, 3-2, at a special meeting sought by Trustee Jon Espersen to discuss village financial issues. Espersen, Paul Wandel and Michelle Twichell voted to hire Johnson. Trustees Ben Brauchler and Nicole Siracuse voted “no.”

“Under our current fiscal situation, I’d rather table this,” Brauchler said. “I’ll say no for now.”

Johnson will serve as a clerk for the code enforcement office and make $18.11 per hour.

Chief Code Enforcement Officer Chuck LaBarbera successfully lobbied village officials for a clerk, stating that he is overwhelmed with paperwork and it is delaying the village’s receipt of revenues.

“In view of the pressure of our code office and all of the work that’s got to be done, I say aye,” Wandel said.

“Chuck does need somebody right now,” Twichell said. “He is unable to do any inspections, to be able to run his office efficiently, just between two people.” The code office’s only other current employee is Assistant Inspection Officer Thomas Kawski.

“As much as I hate to spend the money, (LaBarbera) made it pretty clear what’s not being done over there,” Espersen said. “At a time we are trying to become a ‘pro housing community,’ that has added a significant amount of work on his plate which he hasn’t been able to do, provide us the numbers that we need, because he’s too busy doing the paperwork that the clerk should be doing.”

There was some discussion among trustees about moving Johnson to the fire department, after she has helped the code enforcement office catch up. During the village’s 2024-25 budget deliberations, trustees considered hiring a clerk that would have had a similar arrangement, but wound up not doing so.