POLAND – One selectman said Tuesday night that fellow board member Bud Jordan’s signing of a special town meeting warrant earlier this month gives the board “a black eye.”

Board Chairman Glenn Peterson also chastised Jordan.

And the results of the Jan. 6 special town meeting were thrown into limbo when selectmen tabled a decision to ratify its actions.

Jordan acknowledged that he should have abstained from signing the warrant, which called for the town to vote on an article to rezone 80 acres of his land. However, Jordan said he did nothing wrong, and he pointed out that a majority of the people at the special meeting voted in favor of the zoning change and that no one had challenged that vote.

He threatened to sue the town if the vote to rezone the land is not ratified.

Personal accusations punctuated Tuesday night’s meeting.

Peterson adamantly proclaimed that Poland needs to start doing business differently, while fellow board member David Corcoran admonished Peterson for stopping the board’s attempt to fix a mistake.

“Nothing good can come of this,” said Corcoran. “You made it look like our intent was bad. And this gives what we did a black eye – period. This stinks.”

The Jan. 6 special town meeting warrant featured an article to vote on rezoning about 80 acres of Jordan’s property from farm and forest, which carries a 5-acre parcel minimum, back to its original village zone, which carries a 2-acre minimum.

“We have a town manager of 30 years, we have a selectman of 23 years,” said Peterson, referring to Jordan. “And still we can’t get this conflict-of-interest thing down. It seems that this town does not do things cleanly, and this is my stand to say I’m tired of it.”

Selectmen voted 3-1 to table any final decisions until the Feb. 1 meeting.

Peterson, Corcoran, and Steve Robinson voted to table the special town meeting ratification. Wendy Sanborn was opposed. Avoiding the original conflict-of-interest problem on the advice of town attorney Curtis Webber, Jordan abstained.

The entire special town meeting, which included approving $13,000 for a consultant to conduct an economic development study, can be challenged now if at least 10 residents persuade a judge that the town meeting is void because of the conflict of interest, Town Manager Richard Chick said.

“If no one challenges it, then nothing changes,” said Chick. “But right now, there’s a cloud hanging over it. And no one in their right mind is going to a sign a contract with that. That’s one bus a town manager doesn’t have to throw himself in front of.”

Prior to the meeting, Webber had drafted a resolution to correct the procedural error and to validate the special town meeting voting results. Because a majority had voted for the warrant even without Jordan, Webber said Tuesday that he believed the resolution would correct the problem.

The draft resolution included stating the problem of Jordan’s participating in the original vote, correcting the conflict of interest, and validating the special town meeting votes that followed.

Robinson repeatedly emphasized that the votes of the town meeting had nothing to do with the board’s prior action. He amended the motion to approve the legal resolution to separate correcting the Dec. 21 signing of the warrant from the Jan. 6 vote.

“We went there with every intention of having a good and valid warrant,” said Robinson. “If (we) weren’t having a discussion on the procedure, then what discussion would we be having? We need to bring ourselves back to Dec. 21 – that’s where our obligation begins and ends. This board had nothing to do with the town vote.”

Selectmen voted 2-2 on Robinson’s amendment. Sanborn and Peterson voted against. Corcoran and Robinson voted in favor.

Corcoran accused Peterson of changing his mind because he did not like the outcome of the special town meeting, which gave Jordan his rezoning request.

Peterson, Robinson, Corcoran and Jordan voted in December to place the rezoning request on the warrant. Sanborn opposed.

Peterson admitted that his objection to ratifying the special town meeting results stemmed from his opinion that Jordan’s rezoning request did not carry a majority vote.

Special town meeting Moderator Bryan Dench had declared the rezoning request as having passed from a show of hands from the 50 registered voters attending.

“You people are making a fool of yourselves,” said Jordan, directing his comments toward Peterson and Sanborn. “You’ve attacked my daughter, you’ve attacked my wife. Now me. You think you’re smart, but you’re not.”

Jordan acknowledged that he should not have voted for or signed the town meeting warrant. However, he pointed out that the minutes of the special town meeting showed his rezoning request passed and that no one challenged the vote or called for a ballot vote.

“If I have to sue the town, I’ll sue the town,” said Jordan, after the full board believed the issue to have died from the tie vote.

However, Code Enforcement Officer Art Dunlap pointed out that the original motion to approve the full resolution drafted by Webber was still pending. A relieved Corcoran then motioned to table the final vote to give selectmen time to think of the consequences.