Former Chief of Police and Massena Mayor - Tim Currier Resigns

By Andy Gardner

MASSENA - Mayor Tim Currier, who was arrested in December in a drug sales investigation, will resign on Feb. 1.

Currier, a former Massena police chief, announced the resignation in a statement released Tuesday morning, Jan. 19. He announced a leave of absence to seek drug treatment shortly after his Dec. 1 arrest on charges of misdemeanor possession of crack cocaine, fleeing police and a felony count of evidence tampering.

"Since the events of December 1, I have worked hard on my recovery and I remain profoundly sorry for my actions. So many people have reached out in a variety of ways to lend their support to me and my family. We are thankful for each and every one of you. Although I know that I could continue to provide strong and capable leadership for this community, I have decided that I will resign as Mayor of Massena, effective February 1, 2021. In the coming months, it is vital that I dedicate myself to my personal recovery, repair damage I've caused with my family, and work to regain the trust of my closest friends," Currier wrote.

Acting Mayor Matt Lebire said the Board of Trustees will discuss making an appointment to fill the soon-to-be-vacant mayor's seat.

"In the short term pursuant to Village Law Section 4-400, I as Deputy Mayor will continue to perform all the duties of the mayor in the absence thereof. Looking further out, the Village Board will need to follow Section 3-312 of Village Law to handle the vacancy. In short, the board will need to appoint an individual to the position of Mayor to serve the remainder of the current official year. We will update and discuss this in a bit more detail at the start of our regularly scheduled board meeting later today," he wrote Tuesday, Jan. 19.

Currier was heavily involved in drug prevention and intervention in the years leading up to his arrest, having helped found the Boys and Girls Club of Massena, which has since changed its name to the Police Activities League of Massena, and the Massena Drug Free Coalition. He was also involved with Horizons Youth Clubhouse, which is for kids age 12 to 17 to hang out in a safe, substance-free environment. In a Dec. 10, 2019 Facebook post, The Valley Recovery Center, based in Ogdensburg, called Currier "a true friend of recovery," adding "we're glad to have Tim as a partner advocating for the recovery community and doing his part to make a difference."

"More than three decades ago, the citizens of this community hired a kid that grew up a stone's throw from public housing, made him your Chief of Police, and elected him twice as your Mayor. It has been my great honor to serve you and this community for almost 33 years," Currier wrote. "Together we modernized our police agency, instituted a true community policing strategy, kept our citizens safe, and implemented several programs such as Triad, Neighborhood Watch, DARE, the Drug Free Coalition and opened a Boys & Girls Club, now Police Activities League. As your Mayor the last six years, I kept my promise to bring a new style of leadership, one where it was not about being in charge, but rather, taking care of those in my charge."

Currier's arrest came after law enforcement "received information this suspect was dealing in drugs" earlier this year," St. Lawrence County Sheriff Brooks Bigwarfe said shortly after the arrest. A video of the arrest was widely circulated on social media.

Currier was arrested at gunpoint a day earlier after county detectives and federal agents attempted to pull him over near Center Street. He is accused of fleeing the stop and throwing one gram of crack cocaine out of his passenger window, coming to a stop near the intersection of Center and Willow streets.

Although the officials didn't want to get too far into specifics of the case, citing the ongoing investigation, the DA shortly after the arrest said officers had probable cause to pull over Currier's car before attempting to pull over the mayor's car. He didn't comment on the specifics of the probable cause.

Sheriff Bigwarfe on Dec. 2 said the Massena Police Department, which Currier led as chief for over two decades, was made aware of the case but isn't in the loop otherwise, "given the position of the defendant and his access and authority over the department in different ways."

"They are not part of our investigation and will not be because we do not feel that would be appropriate, given the working relationship," the sheriff said.

The St. Lawrence County DA also declined to say exactly when police began looking into Currier.

"It's been a few months. I'll leave it at that. This isn't something we went into lightly," Pasqua said in December. "What was provided to us was enough and important enough we should look into it, which is why we got HSI, the Sheriff's Department investigating."

The case was also investigated by the Department of Homeland Security.

Here is Currier's complete statement:

Since the events of December 1, I have worked hard on my recovery and I remain profoundly sorry for my actions. So many people have reached out in a variety of ways to lend their support to me and my family. We are thankful for each and every one of you. Although I know that I could continue to provide strong and capable leadership for this community, I have decided that I will resign as Mayor of Massena, effective February 1, 2021. In the coming months, it is vital that I dedicate myself to my personal recovery, repair damage I've caused with my family, and work to regain the trust of my closest friends.

More than three decades ago, the citizens of this community hired a kid that grew up a stone's throw from public housing, made him your Chief of Police, and elected him twice as your Mayor. It has been my great honor to serve you and this community for almost 33 years.

Together we modernized our police agency, instituted a true community policing strategy, kept our citizens safe, and implemented several programs such as Triad, Neighborhood Watch, DARE, the Drug Free Coalition and opened a Boys & Girls Club, now Police Activities League.

As your Mayor the last six years, I kept my promise to bring a new style of leadership, one where it was not about being in charge, but rather, taking care of those in my charge.

I kept my promise and focused on things that mattered. Together, with our partners, we invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to reduce blight, improved our neighborhoods, restarted a stalled housing market, and made quality home ownership a possibility for dozens of disadvantaged citizens.

Together, by engaging our citizens, many organizations and volunteers, we improved our infrastructure, reduced labor disputes, treated our staff and volunteer firefighters with dignity, focused and delivered on downtown development, cleaned up several contaminated properties and by restoring fiscal responsibility to local government, we created an atmosphere that fostered growth and development in Massena.

We proved that by working with our partners at every level, and by leveraging our local assets to attract outside investment, we could bring millions of dollars to this community and spur growth and community development. It's important to recognize that none of this happens without local developers and investors that believe in Massena and her citizens.