By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The village and town will receive a grant to fund a local government study that could recommend dissolving the village.

Mayor Tim Currier at Tuesday's Board of Trustees meeting made that announcement and said the next step will be for both bodies to put out a request for proposals and hire a firm to do the study.

The towns of Louisville and Norfolk may be involved to some degree, since the Village of Massena has a small portion in each.

Currier said they will seek clarification from the Department of State on how to handle their involvement.

He said once they get underway, the community will be involved.

"There will be stakeholder meetings, there will be community meetings," he said. "At the end of the day, the community decides what we're going to do."

The study could also make less drastic recommendations, such as keeping both local layers of government but combining services.

Currier on several occasions since his election in 2014 has said he believes there is too much government in Massena.

“The size of the local government is too big in my view for the current fiscal climate and where this community is heading," he said in February 2017.

During a tense debate in March of this year where trustees and a DPW official sparred over a DPW hire, Currier said village finances are getting tighter and they need better solutions.

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

“I’m looking and there just are not things to solve the budget gaps anymore with."