By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- By split vote, the Town Council decided on Wednesday to hire a second consultant to further examine another option for keeping Massena Memorial Hospital viable.

The board voted 3-2 to spend $14,500 to look at the possibility of becoming a critical access hospital, with councilmen John Macaulay and Albert Nicola voting against the measure.

Nicola said he first and foremost wants to know if they can merge MMH, a municipally owned hospital, with a private entity.

"We told (our current consultants) that's the first answer we want," Nicola said.

The board has only received one answer to that question. Hancock-Eastabrook, a law firm hired by the MMH Board of Managers, told them its impossible.

"All we've heard is 'no' from the hospital attorneys," Councilman John Macaulay said, adding that he trusts their findings based on their reputation.

Town Supervisor Joseph Gray said the town's attorney, Eric Gustafson, is probing the matter.

Macaulay said he voted against the measure because he thinks any decision to go with or against becoming critical access should be made by MMH and any future affiliates.

"I believe the affiliated hospitals should make this decision," he said. "My opinion is we need to wait for Eric."

Councilman Samuel Carbone said Lewis County General Hospital gets 101 percent Medicaid reimbursement as a critical access facility, which next year will go down to 100 percent. MMH gets paid back 30 percent for Medicaid care.

Critical access is a designation given by the state Department of Health based on a certificate of need, Gray said. It means they can't have more than 25 beds and must be at least 35 road miles from the nearest hospital.

"To me, it would make sense to do the study to make sure we don't want to miss the boat," Councilman Thomas Miller said.

MMH is in a dire financial situation. Their monthly financial reports say they are seeing massive losses from operations, which they have to make up with cash reserves.

Macaulay said he expects the MMH Board of Managers to announce nearly $300,000 in losses for October at their Nov. 24 meeting.