By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- A Massena man suggested to the village board on Wednesday that the reason no one attends their meetings could be a perception that they are not welcome there.

R. Shawn Gray, also a former county legislator, spoke in reaction to what he perceived as Trustee Timothy Ahlfeld’s condescending response during an Oct. 21 public hearing for the water rate hike.

“Why is attendance so abysmal at these meetings twice a month?” Gray read aloud from a prepared statement as Ahlfeld, who sat at a 90-degree angle to Gray, stared straight ahead with folded hands showing no emotion. “Is it because they don’t care or is it … because they feel they don’t belong.”

At the public hearing, Gray was questioning the necessity of the rate increase. Ahlfeld had proposed the hike because he said they were “two years from operating in the red.”

Gray’s recollection was that during 2015-16 budget discussions and a subsequent debate on whether to hire a water plant employee, the board said the water fund was stable enough to pay the salary.

“All of the discussion at that timeframe revolved around the hiring of two employees at the sewage plant,” Ahlfeld replied to Gray’s inquiry at the time. “The sewage fund has $800k in the fund balance … not the fund balance in the water fund … Even though you need water to get rid of sewer, we weren’t talking about that.

“Did what I say clear it up for you?” and without giving Gray a chance to reply, “Good.”

Gray said he went to the village treasurer’s office that afternoon to find out if the new hire discussed earlier in the year would in fact draw money from the water fund.

“I stopped by the village treasurer’s office this afternoon … half from sewer fund and half from water fund,” Gray said. “That new hire has an impact on the water fund.

“At best, Trustee Ahlfeld has a woeful lack of understanding of the budget process, at worst he willfully tried to deceive the public, which although is not illegal, is highly unethical.”

He said the reason he was making such an issue of it, besides the perceived insult, is because the constant ratcheting of taxes and fees is going to make it harder to live here, especially in light of Alcoa pulling up stakes.

“The only reason this is an issue at all is every tax increase, every fee is another nail in our coffin,” Gray said. “The impacts of these increases can be overwhelming for individual homeowners.”

He urged the trustees to do more to engage public opinion. Stifling their ideas, he said, could be part of “the reason they don’t trust their government.”

“Don’t have (a public hearing) because you have to, have it because you want to,” he said.