By JIMMY LAWTON

CANTON -- St. Lawrence County legislator John Putney says Republicans have created a volatile situation by modifying the Mohawk land claim without proper public input Monday.

Putney, a Democrat and former legislature chair, says he is disgusted at how Republicans passed a resolution Monday night regarding the land claim memo of understanding that changes how a $4 million annual payment to the county will be distributed.

Putney said the decision to remove allocations of $750,000 to Brasher and Massena and an additional $500,000 from Brash Falls School District could lead to legal challenges from the town of Massena.

He said any such action could detract from the gain as it will likely be costly, win or lose.

“At the end of the day we are called here to serve the public. I feel the areas in the land claim that are giving up land have been done a disservice. I am very concerned about the action taken last night. I think it has great potential to prevent a meaningful settlement to the whole land claims issue.”

Aside from his disappointment in the change to the MOU, Putney said he was also displeased with how it was passed.

Putney said the resolution was not included in the agenda and was instead left on the desks of legislators at the meeting.

"There was no resolution to repeal the allocations on the agenda. How would the public have known that there was going to be a repeal of the previous MOU?" he said. "The speed at which the SAFE Act was rammed through pales in comparison to how this was handled."

Included in the public agenda was a different resolution, dated Sept. 8, which authorized then chairman Putney to sign the settlement.

“It was on the agenda under old business, but the wrong resolution was put on the docket of the legislator’s materials,” legislature chairman Joseph Lightfoot, a Republican, said.

The included resolution did not contain any mention of the amendments, revisions or repeal of the MOU.

Although the resolution was not included in the agenda for Monday’s meeting, Lightfoot said the resolution was no surprise. He said he has been clear that his party intended to remove the allocations from the MOU.

“I’ve been on the record about this. I have talked publically about this,” he said.

Lightfoot said there was also discussion on the proposal by both parties before the Republicans passed it.

Putney called the Republicans hypocrites, adding that when he was chairman he was criticized for bringing time sensitive resolutions to the board without prior notice.

“When I did that, it was because there was need to because of timing. This was not time sensitive. There was no reason not to go through committee,” he said.

Putney said he is also disappointed that there is no representation on the land claims committee from the municipalities that are affected.

Putney said there are “good people on both sides of the aisle” an he is hopeful some of the Republicans will be interested in allocating a portion of the funding to communities of Brasher and Massena.

“The hardliners are the ones that want to keep all the money, but I believe there are some moderates that want to do what is right,” he said.