Trailer By Slavin Building Towed Away By Village

MASSENA - The village has towed and impounded a storage trailer that had been parked on a blocked-off section of Water Street outside the Slavin and Shulkin Furniture and Jewelry buildings for over a month.

Michael D. Slavin, claiming he is being "held hostage" by village officials over the issue, is now demanding his trailer be released to a transport company he allegedly hired to move the vehicle Friday, the deadline by which he was told it had to be removed. If the village does not return his belongings, Mr. Slavin is threatening legal action.

Parked outside the condemned buildings since mid-June, the trailer had raised the concerns of village trustees, who wanted the vehicle removed from the section of roadway they had ordered closed due to safety concerns following a roof collapse in the center of the three buildings this winter.

Now that the former storefront and warehouse space is in the foreclosure process and will soon be demolished, village crews also needed the trailer moved in order to disconnect water and sewer lines from the buildings, according to Village Administrator Everett E. Basford.

Following the board's July 20 meeting, Mr. Basford was directed to contact Mr. Slavin about having the trailer removed by Friday.

If Mr. Slavin failed to remove the trailer by Friday, he was told it would be towed, impounded and released only when the owner reimbursed the village for the cost of having it removed from Water Street.

On Friday morning, the trailer had not been moved. Mr. Basford said it was impounded by the village at 10 a.m., when it was removed to village property, where it will be held until the owner reports to the Massena Police Department to prove ownership of the trailer.

"If the legal owner does not come forward and ownership cannot be proven, the trailer and its contents will be sold as abandoned property," Mr. Basford said in an e-mail to Mr. Slavin, noting that the village had given ample two-weeks notice that the trailer needed to be removed.

An invoice from the company hired to remove the trailer on behalf of the village would also need to be paid before it is released, the administrator said.

But in what he termed a "letter of demand" in response to the removal of the trailer, Mr. Slavin demanded that the transport company he allegedly hired be permitted to remove the trailer from village property.

"If you want to spend more of the poor peoples of the village tax monies on this trivial matter, that is entirely up to you," Mr. Slavin wrote. "I would hate to think that we have to move this to a legal letter of demand, but that is entirely up to you."

Mr. Slavin also said he would hold the village responsible for "any and all damages to the trailer, running gear," antiques contained in the trailer and moving costs.

Mr. Basford instructed Mr. Slavin to bring proof of ownership of the trailer to Police Chief Timothy J. Currier on Monday.