DIXFIELD – Selectmen and Mexico Water District trustees will meet today to discuss the contract that uses the Mexico water operator to run the Dixfield water department. The agreement has apparently gone wrong.

Selectmen and the water district signed a contract last month that provides for Dixfield to pay $60,000 to the Mexico Water District for operation of its plant.

However, a clause in the agreement allows either side to get out of the contract within 60 days.

Byron Ouellette, a Mexico trustee, said Tuesday afternoon that the contract will be re-evaluated.

“I feel something was done behind our back,” Ouellette said.

That something was a discussion by Town Manager Jeff Jacobson about the possibility of hiring Mexico’s water operator, Jim White, as operator of Dixfield’s water and sewer departments.

“An offer was made contingent upon a couple of occurrences,” Jacobson said Tuesday afternoon.

He declined further details until Wednesday night’s meeting.

“I had mentioned the idea to the chairman of the board, (before making an offer) and the board is aware of everything,” he said.

Ouellette said the agreement had been signed by two of the trustees.

“Then we found out there was a job offer,” he said.

Jacobson said the preferred outcome from Wednesday’s meeting is a continuation of the contract with Mexico.

Currently, the Dixfield Water Department is run by the Mexico Water District and the Dixfield Sewer Department is operated by the town’s public works department and contractual services.

Jacobson said he wasn’t sure whether there would be a savings if the two departments were run by one operator.

As the Water Department contract stands now, Jan. 29 would be the last day Mexico operates Dixfield’s water department if it uses the 60-day opt-out option.

Dixfield selectmen act as water department trustees, while the Mexico Sewer District is administered by a separate board of trustees.