Recall sought for two Paris selectmen

PARIS — Less than a week after voters approved a recall ordinance, petitioners asked for a recall election to be scheduled for two selectmen.

Town Clerk Anne Pastore said she had received petitions asking that recall elections be scheduled for Chairman David Ivey and Vice Chairman Troy Ripley. Pastore said the town had received more than 320 signatures in support of each petition; 211 signatures needed for a petition to be presented to selectmen. Pastore was working to certify the signatures before the board's next meeting on Nov. 23, she said Tuesday.

Forrie Everett, chairman of the town's Budget Committee, announced at Monday's selectmen meeting that the petitions had been delivered. He said that if the petitions are presented at the board's next meeting, the board must schedule a recall election by Dec. 7, and the election must take place between Jan. 6 and Feb. 5.

The recall ordinance passed 1,555 to 537 on Nov 3. It was drafted by the town's Policy and Procedures Committee after residents questioned whether there was a way to remove elected officials from office outside regular elections.

Selectmen in February asked the committee to write the ordinance. However, it gained more attention after the board voted 3-2 in June to fire Town Manager Sharon Jackson. The decision to terminate Jackson's contract without cause was allowed under the contract, but meetings since have drawn large numbers of people and often include heated arguments.

Everett said Tuesday that the recall effort does not primarily concern Jackson's termination.

"It's mostly in relation to other things — the way the town's being run," he said.

"We have lost confidence in him," the petitions to remove Ivey and Ripley state. 

Townspeople have accused the two selectmen of holding secret meetings outside the regular municipal gatherings. They have denied the charge.

Resident Greg Harris said he was collecting signatures for a recall election for the remaining three selectmen: Glen Young, who voted in favor of terminating Jackson's contract, and Raymond Glover and Lloyd "Skip" Herrick, who did not. Harris' petition states that residents have "lost faith in [Glover and Herrick]'s ability to make important decisions and faithfully act in the best interest of the whole town of Paris."

 

Harris' petition for Young charges that "he attended several business meetings of the Board of Selectmen while having obviously unkempt, uncombed, RED hair."

Harris said he hopes to address concerns that selectmen could be recalled for illegitimate reasons and enough of them could be recalled that there would no longer be a quorum for meetings.

"I think (the ordinance) was poorly written," he said. "It's a very dangerous ordinance, and I think it needs to be addressed, sooner rather than later. It could turn out to be a very costly and dangerous ordinance for the town to have."

Ivey was elected to the board in 2007, and served as vice chairman for one year before being chosen earlier this year by the board to be chairman. Ripley was elected in June and was chosen by the board to be vice chairman.

Ivey said Tuesday that a mass recall of the board could leave the town in a precarious state, because selectmen sign the warrants necessary to pay the town's bills. He said it is also possible that the board will vote not to accept the petitions.

"Once you lose a Board of Selectmen, the town government shuts down," he said. "I think the board's got to do some soul-searching at some point."

mlangeveld@sunjournal.com