BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

MASSENA -- The Massena town board, village board of trustees and school board officially named their representatives to the Local Government Task Force during recent meetings.

In most cases, the appointments remain relatively unchanged from previous appointments.

Village officials appointed Tim Ahlfeld to the post, while Town Supervisor Sue Bellor and Deputy Town Supervisor Pat Facteau will represent the town.

School district officials reappointed Board of Education Vice President Kevin Perretta to the post along with Superintendent Ron Burke.

Entities in Massena are not the only members of the Local Government Task Force, however, as the town and village of Waddington, town of Louisville, St. Lawrence County and Madrid-Waddington Central School District all have a seat at the table with the New York Power Authority.

The role of the task force is to negotiate a relicensing agreement with NYPA as part of the 10-year review process.

The final agreement will net local emergency services $8,000 annually each, along with $1.5 million for energy efficiency projects over the next 10 years.

A total of $2.275 million will be spent on shoreline stabilization over the next 10 years, along with an estimated $7.158 million from high flow payments.

NYPA also signed off on $1.6 million for recreational activities, $5 million for a Recreational Improvement Fund for a multi-use trail from Wilson Hill to Waddington, $200,000 for recreational marketing efforts and $750,000 for the River Course at Louisville Landing.

Officials recently completed that task in December 2024, however county legislators opted to vote against the tentative agreement saying it was negotiated in "bad faith."

Legislators near unanimously opposed a resolution approving the Relicensing Settlement Agreement (RSA) and instead passed a second resolution opposing it during the Dec. 2 full board meeting. Legislators John Gennett and Nicole Terminelli abstained from the vote due to personal conflicts.

Legislator Jim Reagen was critical of the previous deal and was the first to call on NYPA to come back to the negotiating table.

He commented that the Local Government Task Force that had negotiated with NYPA for the previous two years had seemingly left the county out of all discussions.

The RSA includes a provision that provides for a review of the terms of the RSA every ten years so St. Lawrence County, the town and village of Massena, the town of Louisville, Massena Central School District, the town and village of Waddington and the Madrid-Waddington Central School District can engage with NYPA to address unforeseen matters that were not contemplated in the 2002 RSA.

Reagen said it was his belief that the county was possibly left out of the negotiations with NYPA on purpose.

He also commented on the level of influence NYPA has had on the region and St. Lawrence County in particular, with thousands of prime waterfront property being taken off the tax rolls for NYPA projects over the years.

"They took a vast section off of the St. Lawrence County tax rolls. We have suffered that for many, many years. What the licensing is all about is the power authority can use our St. Lawrence River (for power generation). This river is owned by all members of the county," Reagen said.

But Democratic Party Chair and village of Waddington Mike Zagrobelny said those assertions were not only wrong but "factually inaccurate and absurd."

In an interview with NCTW, Zagrobelny said the county was represented every step of the way.

"To say the county was not represented in the meetings is just not true. Legislator Rita Curran was appointed to that role in 2019 and was invited to every meeting and was copied on every email chain," Zagrobelny told NCTW.

Curran was appointed in 2019 by Joseph Lightfoot to represent the county during the 10 year review, a fact Zagrobelny pointed out in his interview.

Zagrobelny said Curran attended "many of the meetings" and rarely spoke out.

Curran did not offer comment on the matter.

Zagrobelny said the perceived lack of communication between Curran and the Board of Legislators falls solely to the county in this case, with all other entities on the Local Government Task Force having signed off on the deal.

"It was a unanimous decision by all other entities involved, including the municipalities and school districts. To say that the county was purposely committed from discussions and meetings simply isn't true. It was their responsibility to communicate through Legislator Curran," Zagrobelny said.

He told NCTW that "dozens of emails were shared with Legislator Curran as well."

"We met every month in 2023 and essentially had a handshake deal in place at the end of 2023. Then, in 2024 we would meet periodically. Legislator Curran was made aware of and invited to each of those meetings as well but she didn't attend everyone," Zagrobelny said.

In the end, the review process was completed and all parties but the county signed off, he said.

"We reviewed the relicensing agreement, which is what this actually is, and it was approved. The county was not excluded in any way through the process," Zagrobelny said.

Massena Mayor Greg Paquin confirmed Zagrobelny's assertions, saying the county was well represented on the task force.

“Since we’re on the Local Government Task Force, some of the county legislators had complaints about the second 10-year deal, but were in error in saying that the county didn’t have a representative or wasn’t involved in negotiations,” he said.

Paquin said there were "dozens of emails and zoom meetings to prove otherwise."

As a matter of fact, the county actually had a representative appointed by the chairman at the time in 2019. So, to say that they weren’t represented was in error," he said.