By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA — A proposal at Tuesday’s village board meeting to clear about 6 acres of land to make room for Christmas tree disposal was put on hold after the objections of a trustee.

Hassan Fayad, the Department of Public Works superintendent, wanted permission to spend up to $20,000 to clear trees on a village parcel on South Raquette Road and an area on Russell Road near where the DPW is looking at building a baseball diamond.

Trustee Francis Carvel said the village should be using an old dump, which resulted in him butting heads with Fayad that included raised voices.

Fayad said the road the old dump includes a set of railroad tracks without a stop gate, which poses a safety hazard.

“Once you cross the railroad tracks, there’s a lot of risk you expose this village to without any stop bars,” Fayad said.

Carvel, worried that the clear-cutting would disturb neighbors, accused the village government of not considering residents in their plans. He said the road leading to the old dump sees a fair amount of traffic with no safety problems.

“There’s driveways all down that road,” Carvel said. “This is the typical way the village does business. We go … with no plan or anything into effect, with little respect for anything but ourselves. There’s enough room to put the Christmas trees [at the old dump].”

“If that’s what this board wants me to do I’ll do it,” Fayad said.

Fayad in a memo to the board also mentioned that he wants to clear-cut the 6.4 acres to make room for brush, leaves and other grass clippings the DPW picks up.

The trustees informally agreed to revisit the matter after a joint meeting with the town on Thursday where they will discuss a possible joint DPW-Highway Department facility of some sort.