By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The Board of Trustees on Tuesday halted a village resident’s complaints about the Department of Public Works and the DPW superintendent and took the discussion behind closed doors.

Tyler Chase, who lives on Malby Avenue, aired grievances to the board during public comment where he claimed a DPW employee, who he did not identify, and DPW Superintendent Hassan Fayad had treated him in a rude fashion when he expressed dissatisfaction with them.

He alleged the garbage collector was “sarcastic” and “rude,” and refused to take a bag of newspapers that had been used by his paper-trained dogs, but the issue was resolved after a phone call with the man’s superior.

He said he called the DPW again some time after that incident with complaints about the route the garbage trucks took to pick up his neighborhood’s trash. Chase said he was frustrated because the trucks used to travel up one side of the street and immediately down the other, but they now go up one side, throughout other areas and then return to the second side of Malby.

Chase alleged that during a phone conversation Fayad “got very belligerent with me, started screaming at me on the phone because I was questioning him.”

Shortly after that comment, Trustee Tim Ahlfeld halted Chase’s remarks and said the board should go into executive session “for personnel,” which is not a legitimate reason to expel the public under state Open Meetings Law.

Mayor Tim Currier suggested the board go into closed-door session for a discussion “regarding the performance of a particular employee,” which is allowed under the law.

The board then voted 4-0 to enter executive session. They invited Chase with them while Fayad remained with the public. The board returned to open session about 10 minutes later with no further discussion on the matter. Chase did not return to the meeting.