• By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA — A proposal by the village’s water department head to hire three new Department of Public Works motor vehicle operators led to a tense debate with village board members, and the board voted to approve one new hire.

The discussion included the mayor airing hopes that an upcoming local government efficiency study will give them long-term answers to their financial problems. The study could make recommendations such as combining services, or even dissolving the village.

The motion passed 3-2, with trustees Frank Carvel and Albert Deshaies voting no, Tim Ahlfeld and Matt Lebire voting yes, and Mayor Tim Currier casting a tie-breaking yes vote.

Steve Daly, the chief water operator, initially asked for four positions, but later clarified that he was looking to hire three new hires because a street crew employee had been transfered to the water department. The board’s motion covered the transfer and one new hire.

Village trustees said they were concerned about having to come up with salaries and budgets for three new positions as the mayor said officials have been writing a 2018-19 budget that’s “nearly impossible” to keep under the tax cap.

That went up against Daly saying that they don’t have enough workers at the DPW to preserve the level of services Massena is used to having.

“We’ve had a very tough winter trying to get by with the short staff. We’ve had guys working 16- to 20-hour shifts. We had guys going 25 days without a day off. We’ve had safety concerns,” Daly said. “We absolutely will have to cut services. The first service that’s absoltuely in jeopardy is the sidewalk program, which is a tremendous benefit for anybody forced to by the village, or wants to improve their sidewalks.”

“You're in dire need of help. Two months ago, this board said hire a person,” Carvel said. “It couldn’t have been too dire a need … when nobody does anything for two months, I don’t know why, are they waiting for this personnel policy manual change?”

He was referring to a motion the board passed previously to allow the DPW to look for a new motor equipment operator. He was also referring to a change in the hiring policy for positions not bound by civil service requirements that the board passed earlier in the evening.

“Why is it all of a sudden you need somebody so bad they don’t replace them for two months,” he said. “Technology has changed over the years and we have to come to the realization this village is not getting bigger.”

Lebire said he is concerned that the DPW is being asked to do more with less, but they don’t have a plan outlining how they will do that.

“It’s not that I’m against downsizing where possible. ‘Just getting it done’ and ‘technology has improved’ doesn’t specifically dictate how we can do the same or more with less,” Lebire said. “The absence of a specific plan is what concerns me. We have to do everything in our power to keep taxes from going up significantly.”

Carvel said he was concerned about the cost of making two new hires and claimed Massena village workers are the third highest-paid in the area.

“All these costs, you add these things to the system. We don’t have the money anymore,” he said. “The village workers are the third highest paid in this area” and cited the St. Lawrence Seaway and New York Power Authority as the highest paying.

When asked during public comment where he got that information, he did not have a source to back it up.

“It’s only common sense, just look at it … It’s not, you know, engraved in stone, no. But let’s be realistic,” Carvel said. “Does the bottle redemption center pay that amount of money? … They (NYPA and Seaway) have fairly high rates they pay their employees. Once you leave those two entites, Alcoa is a lot less than what we are.”

Ahlfeld said he wanted to allow the DPW to look for two hires.

“I’d like to see us go with three tonight and maybe go with the fourth … giving them 75 percent of what they lost, I think is the right move,” he said. “You still need someone to run the equipment. You still need spotters.”

He later added that the DPW is not the biggest burden on the village budget. He said it’s the Massena Police Department, but he said they need to spend that money to assure public safety.

“The DPW is not the problem in Massnea. The problem is societal,” Ahlfeld said. “Our problem is public safety. That’s where the expense is going.

“I remember last year I suggested we hire another investigator because of the societal-type issues.”

The board last year voted to add a third village police investigator position devoted exclusively to drug cases. The move came amid an ongoing nationwide opioid epidemic that has not spared the North Country.

Currier said he hopes that a government efficiency study will give them answers on areas where they might be able to combine with the Town of Massena to save money.

“Somebody’s going to come in and tell us what [the local government] is going to look like,” he said. That could mean simply joining forces on some services, or a more significant move like dissolving the village.

He said village staff heads have been going through an extreme crunching process to get the upcoming budget below the tax cap.

“What are the services we want, what are the services we need, what can we afford?” he said. “Revenues have gone down … Those are real issues, less money coming in, and expenses going up.

“We spent two days going line by line with every single item … to try to get below the tax cap … It was nearly impossible this year.”

He said they need to make some big changes, and soon.

“I’m looking and there just are not things to solve the budget gaps anymore with,” Currier said.