OBSERVER Photo by Gregory Bacon Fredonia resident Jim Lynden expressed his opposition for the county to fund a study to see if the village should buy water from the North Chautauqua County Water District.

MAYVILLE – Chautauqua County is continuing to help Fredonia explore the possibility of the village getting water from Lake Erie.

During the February legislature meeting, county lawmakers approved a resolution for the county to use $70,000 for the North Chautauqua County Water District project. Part of that funding had been previously approved. The district would like to sell water from Lake Erie to the village of Fredonia, but before that can happen, a study must take place.

The water district was counting on getting the funding from the state, however Allison Vento, the administrative director of the water district, said during a committee meeting that the state rejected their grant application. Officials declined to speculate on why Fredonia’s request was denied.

In January, the legislature had authorized $50,000 for the water district study, but it was unknown at the time if that $50,000 was going to be a loan or a grant.

At the February meeting, Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon said both the $50,000 approved in January and the additional $20,000 approved in February would be classified as a grant to Fredonia.

The money is coming from interest earned from American Rescue Plan Act funds the county received while investing the federal funds.

Before the vote took place, Fredonia resident Jim Lynden objected. “I feel that the interest from ARPA fund is … to benefit all the people in the county, not just certain individuals within the North County Water District that are planning on using it,” he said.

A former village trustee, Lynden has been outspoken against Fredonia getting its water from Lake Erie, either from Dunkirk directly or from the North County Water District.

He has been attending village board meetings and recently got into a verbal dispute with Mayor Michael Ferguson.