By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The village board on Tuesday officially passed a blight declaration for the former Massena School of Business, 22-24 Main St.

This will allow the village to access the property, fix code violations and bill them to the owner.

Fire Department Foreman Aaron Hardy, who also serves as a code officer, said there are numerous instances of code violations around the building. Under the village's point-based system to determine blight, the building's violations had racked up 330 points, he said. A building is blighted at 100 points or more.

Hardy said they had attempted to contact the owners numerous times and received no response. The owners on taxlookup.net are listed as Amy R. Todd and Benjamin J. Todd of Newark, Ohio. Mayor Tim Currier, responding to a concern from the public, clarified that these are not the owners of the Quality Inn.

In hopes of starting a dialogue, Hardy said the village tried dropping the points down to 185, which covers just the most serious violations. If the owners had responded, the village would have worked with them to create a blight remedy plan, pursuant to the blight code.

"We tried dropping the points down a little bit to see if we could get communication ... still to this day have not had a response from the current owner," he said.

Hardy showed a slideshow that pointed out safety hazards from broken windows dropping glass down onto the sidewalk, which is also littered with feces from a bird infestation.

He said there in an open window giving access to the basement, and doors to the second floor are not secured.

"We've seen signs of people staying in there temporarily," he told the board.

He also showed pictures of rotting wood from water damage, and a first-floor facade that is falling apart.

Trustee Albert Deshaies said he isn't happy with how long it took for the village to arrive at a formal blight declaration.

"I think we've got to start getting on them and fixing it. Two years, two or three years on this. I think we've got to rush things along," he said. "Sad place to live in ... especially with what's going on around here."

Deshaies did not elaborate on what he meant by "what's going on around here."

Hardy said part of the problem is the building changed hands in 2016 and they had to start the blight process from the beginning.

"When it changes hands, we have to start this game all over again," the foreman said.

Village officials said there are currently 19 buildings in Massena that under the blight code have 100 points or more.