James Lynden

FREDONIA — Former Fredonia Trustee James Lynden bashed current trustees over their handling of the village budget this week.

Lynden has attended nearly every Board of Trustees meeting since getting voted out of office in 2023, usually speaking his mind on various issues. He tends to be very critical, and Monday’s meeting filled the bill. This time, there was an element of “I told you so” as Lynden slammed trustees for not taking his budget advice.

“I pointed out places, what things and areas you needed to address, before you approved your budget,” Lynden said. “Your budget has many recurring expenses that you newly added to the budget, in positions and wages and other areas. You still ended up raising the taxes on top of that and using fund balance. You put yourselves in this position. You put the village in this position. It’s a sad day where we are today.”

He continued, “You didn’t have to do that. You could have listened… I said this budget wasn’t sustainable. Six months in, it’s not sustainable. You’re not listening to the public — I was not the only one that came before this board to speak, others did.”

Lynden then got in a shot on the village’s water service issue, one of many he has taken since 2023. He wants Fredonia’s water system to stay fully independent and voted against a resolution to buy water from Dunkirk in one of his last acts in office. The resolution passed but was overturned after a lawsuit against it by five village residents, including former Mayor Athanasia Landis, who had close political ties with Lynden when they were both in office.

“You’re doing the same thing with the water,” Lynden said, accusing village officials of ignoring public concerns. “So many issues with the water and you want to go into business with other communities that have financial disasters on their doorstep — actually, they’re in the middle of them.”

Lynden made one more rebuttal. He responded to Richard Ketcham’s comments at the last Board of Trustees meeting, where the ex-Brooks TLC CEO drew parallels between changes in the business world and in how municipalities should offer services.

“I’m sorry, there isn’t any” similarity, Lynden said. “Big business is in (for) profits for themselves and the shareholders. A village operates for services of the people.”