OBSERVER file photo In less than a week, Fredonia Village Board changed its tune on a firefighter position.

Fredonia hired Bryce Fisher as a firefighter Wednesday, with the Board of Trustees changing course after receiving new financial information.

The board narrowly voted down Fisher’s hiring, 3-2, at its previous meeting. However, Trustee Nicole Siracuse announced Wednesday, “Several of us have been spending (time) since our last meeting … looking at numbers over and over again. It was brought to our attention that some of the numbers that we initially had were incorrect. The fire department new hire will not cost as much as initially proposed.”

In light of that, Siracuse said, she would be resubmitting the resolution to hire Fisher.

“I think we have no money,” Trustee Michelle Twichell said. “If we have no money, we have no money. That’s why we had to go out to bond (an $825,000 Revenue Anticipation Note approved last week).”

Siracuse said she didn’t understand how not hiring Fisher would save money, as people would incur overtime covering for a vacant position.

Twichell wanted to table the resolution in order to consult with Treasurer Erlyssa LeBeau, who was not at Wednesday’s meeting. “She told me again there’s no money,” Twichell said of LeBeau. Twichell’s request to table was ignored.

Siracuse and Paul Wandel were the trustees who originally voted to hire Fisher. Ben Brauchler, Jon Espersen and Twichell voted “no.” Brauchler and Espersen changed their votes to “yes” on Wednesday.

“With the understanding that there’s gonna be pain somewhere else, I vote aye,” Brauchler said.

Twichell said that if the board was going to pass a resolution to hire a firefighter, she would like to see another police officer hired. Police Chief David Price put out a plea for more manpower earlier in the meeting.

Espersen made similar comments to Siracuse, stating that “in the last day and a half, I was able to do a deeper dive on this.”

About 15 supporters of the Fredonia Fire Department, including several uniformed members, attended Wednesday’s meeting to encourage trustees to revisit hiring Fisher.

Former Mayor Douglas Essek, who has a long association with the fire department, spoke in favor of hiring Fisher. So did Tyler Bayles, president of Fredonia Professional Firefighters IFF Local 2931.

Fisher will make $22.30 an hour. Trustees also approved a resolution sending Fisher to the fire academy for training.