EAST AURORA, N.Y. — Zeppelin Communications was hired as the public relations consultant for the Erie County Water Authority roughly three years ago, when it was under Republican control. With Democrats now at the helm, Managing Director Michael Caputo said the firm figured it was time to go.

"We resigned, gave them 30 days’ notice and said that we'd be happy to help them transition and give them all passwords and work with whatever new PR firm they had," he said.

The authority rejected the resignation, arguing only it was authorized to terminate the contract. Then it proceeded to do just that. In a letter to ZeppComm, the authority also noted "many deficiencies" in how it was billed.

"They're withholding our final payment and running down the services we've given for three years without objection from anyone, just because they're mad A) That they couldn't fire us; and B) That I used to work for Donald Trump," Caputo said. "The water authority owes us $5,000 for the month of April and I'm trying to figure out from my attorney what I can expect from them for the month of May."

The authority wants the firm to provide itemized details about the specific purpose of every expense and identify every vendor from September 2015 to the present. Caputo said the invoices ZeppCom drafted were over and above what the contract demanded. He said at a meeting last week the new chairman cited his involvement in the federal investigation regarding Russian collusion, as he discussed the billing concerns.

"It does seem to be the basis of what they're doing," Caputo said. “So in fact, the Russia investigation is bogus. I'm a witness in that investigation, not a subject or a target."

He said he's planning on using some of the $300,000 he recently raised for him to sue the authority if it doesn't pay up, as well as other local Democrats he believes are behind this.

"Since this is clearly a political attack, one that's somewhat governed by their belief in the Russian collusion delusion, I'm clear to use all this money to do investigative research on these people to pay for attorneys," Caputo said.

A spokesperson for the water authority said it won't comment on Caputo's claims, instead focusing on providing safe, high-quality and affordable drinking water through reliable infrastructure to its customers.