By ANDY GARDNER

 MASSENA -- The village’s Board of Trustees is looking into whether it can move forward with either bring up-to-code or demolishing a crumbling building at 68 Water Street. The board had voted on Jan. 15 to give the building’s owner, Mary Venier, until Sept. 1 to begin the work or else they will take care of the building and send her the bill.

Village attorney Matthew McArdle will look over the resolution and make sure all the village’s ducks are in a row and report back to the board at their Sept. 17 meeting, Mayor James Hidy said.

Trustee Patricia Wilson said although the building appears to not have been touched in years, the board should check with the code office and make sure there isn’t a building permit on file.

“Step one is to make sure what we see is reality – that there’s no work going on,” Wilson said.

“I’ve seen nothing that was done to that … at all,” Hidy said. He later added that there is no estimate for the cost of repairing or tearing down the structure.

Hidy noted that Venier went through the process of having a formal hearing after she was cited for numerous code violations and the building was labeled unfit for occupation. The hearing lead to the board to their Jan. 15 decision.

The former apartment at 68 Water Street, located adjacent to the former Massena Building Supply, was badly damaged in a 2008 fire. The roof is completely gone second-floor walls are crumbled, except for a small portion on the east side. Venier had the building covered with a tarp, but the January 15 resolution notes it has deteriorated and the elements have further decayed the structure.