OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Village of Fredonia officials approved a Revenue Anticipation Note to keep the lights on.

Fredonia apparently needs a Revenue Anticipation Note to fund itself through the end of its fiscal year.

The village Board of Trustees authorized Treasurer Erlyssa LeBeau on Friday morning to put together the Revenue Anticipation Note. It can be for up to $825,000. The trustees voted unanimously to allow it.

Trustee Michelle Twichell queried LeBeau on details of the Revenue Anticipation Note. LeBeau said it will be due by the end of June. The village will get an interest rate from 3 to 6%, the treasurer said, noting that she will not know for sure until the banks formally get involved.

The move to float the Revenue Anticipation Note was not debated and came at the end of a 75-minute-long specially scheduled meeting Friday, which consisted mostly of rather repetitive debate over the potential hiring of Bryce Fisher as a firefighter. The trustees voted “no” on the hire, with Twichell, Jon Espersen and Ben Brauchler providing the margin. Trustees Nicole Siracuse and Paul Wandel voted “yes.”

The “no” voters felt that the village simply cannot afford to hire Fisher at the moment. The “yes” voters, supported from the audience by Fire Chief Josh Myers and several other Fredonia Fire Department personnel, held that not hiring Fisher will stretch an already understaffed department far too thin and could weaken lifesaving services.

After that vote, Myers — apparently worried about taking flak from the firefighters union over staffing issues — asked the board to institute a village hiring freeze. Trustees told him there would be a resolution for one at their next meeting, set for Wednesday.