By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

PARIS – A dispute over whether the town should be responsible for the maintenance of Town Farm Road has led to questions about the behavior of some officials.

At a Feb. 14 meeting of the Paris Board of Selectmen, Selectman Gerald Kilgore accused Vice Chairman Bruce Hanson of overstepping his authority when addressing an issue on the road.

“Well, you can’t run the Police Department, can you?” Kilgore retorted during a heated exchange.

Kilgore was referring to a May 22, 2004, incident at the residence of Parsons Road homeowner Cynthia Curtis. According to a report filed with the Paris Police Department, Patrolman Anthony Keach on that day responded to a complaint from Curtis, who owns land along Town Farm Road.

“She stated that her neighbors were allowing someone to cut trees along the roadway and giving him the wood for payment,” Keach wrote. “She wanted to know if they could do this, or if the wood belongs to the landowner.”

Keach said he was going to ask Sgt. Michael Dailey. After calling back, the report states, “Bruce Hanson was there and stated that he had talked to the highway director and they would take care of the situation on Monday.”

This is where the questions begin.

According to Hanson, a Town Farm Road resident responsible for the cutting of the wood called him after speaking with Curtis that day. Hanson said Monday he feels he was acting within his authority when responding to the resident’s concerns. When he arrived, he said, he spoke with Curtis and said the town has a policy of letting landowners keep wood cut while road improvements are being made.

“I defended her right to the wood, totally,” he said.

By the time Keach called back, “at that point, she had already agreed to let them do the cutting as long as she got the wood.”

But Curtis said Monday the situation was not so simple. She was concerned not just about ownership of the wood, but also about what appeared to be the town’s authorizing the cutting on her property.

Days after the May 22 incident, Curtis contacted then-Town Manager Steve McAllister. She said she had been told by the men cutting wood that they were widening the road so the town could take it over. McAllister, she said, told her “that they did have a right to improve the road up to the town specs so the town could take it over.”

Hanson was present at the meeting, Curtis said.

While Hanson and Curtis disagree on the specifics, Selectmen Kilgore and Barbara Payne are concerned that Hanson took it upon himself to handle the complaints.

“In my opinion, what needs to happen is that all the action and discussion has to take place at the board table,” Payne said Monday. Furthermore, she said, “I think the board should have been made aware of what happened.”

Board Chairman Bill Merrill, who has to drive down Town Farm Road to reach his property, said Monday he has decided to distance himself from the issue, since examining the meaning of “conflict of interest.” He said he was present during the cutting incident May 22, and has helped with a number of improvements on the road in an effort to help his neighbors.

“When this is all over and done with, we can move forward” he said, noting that the issue has created problems for the Board of Selectmen.

Merrill said the road is now in the hands of the town attorney and the attorney representing the Town Farm Road Association.