PARIS – Several people expressed frustration at Monday’s selectmen’s meeting that they were unable to attend a meeting held earlier in the month.

The town had initially reserved the larger-capacity fire station for a Sept. 10 meeting, which included a public hearing on three proposed ordinances that went before voters on Monday. That meeting was moved to the town office after a water main break closed access to the station, causing several residents to be turned away to avoid exceeding the town office’s capacity.

“People were not allowed to attend a public meeting,” Bruce Hansen said. “It wasn’t right.”

Resident Armand Norton read from a state law, saying that any person may be allowed to attend a public hearing. He said the Sept. 10 meeting was illegal and people were falsely told that no discussion would take place on the town’s taxes.

The meeting two weeks ago included a presentation by Kevin McGillicuddy, then the town’s assessor. McGillicuddy had recently completed a property revaluation of the town, raising its value by about one-third and increasing the property taxes of some residents.

McGillicuddy said that the action aimed at keeping a higher ratio between assessed and market values to preserve state-offered exemptions. After a volley of complaints on the issue, McGillicuddy tendered his resignation to selectmen.

Town Manager Sharon Jackson said the town made every effort to inform people of the change of meeting venue through media outlets and also tried to find a space large enough to accommodate the expected crowd. She said the effort was consistent with another state law.

“We violated no law, and I’m confident in that,” Jackson said.

She said no one was told there would be no discussion of taxes, but rather that a specific hearing on the issue would take place at a later date. A meeting on the issue has since been scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 4 at the fire station. It will include interim assessor Carole Kelley and Mike Rogers of Maine Revenue Services.

Hansen questioned why the Sept. 10 meeting could not have been canceled and rescheduled. Chairman Ernest Fitts III said certain items on the agenda, such as awarding contracts for the repair of four roads, required immediate action. He added that the water main break occurred only an hour before the meeting, allowing minimal time to find another venue.

“I’m certainly sorry if I offended anyone by not letting them in,” Fitts said.

Other residents said canceling the meeting would have led to even more disgruntled residents, as no one would have been able to hear McGillicuddy’s presentation.

In another matter, Jeff Wingate of the Thayer Corp. told selectmen that the boiler at the fire station had broken down due to an engineering defect. Wingate said replacement of the boiler would take four weeks and that it should be done before the end of November.

Chief Brad Frost of the Paris Fire Department said the boiler provides domestic hot water and radiant heat to the fire station.

“The cost of the parts is almost equal to the cost of the new boiler,” Wingate said.

Selectmen decided to seek bids for a new boiler for the next two weeks.

The board also heard a presentation from the Paris Veterans Memorial Committee, which requested that memorial monuments be placed in Moore Park. The monuments would contain the names of local men and women who served honorably in the military, including residents of West Paris, which broke off from Paris to become a town in 1957.

“We’re going to put all the names in that we get,” said Onni Raasumaa, head of the project.

Selectmen tabled the issue until more information was available on the cost and placement of the monuments.

Carolyn Johnson, who withdrew an application for a special entertainment permit for her planned restaurant at a selectmen’s meeting in August, returned to make the request anew.

“It’s nothing I want to do every weekend,” Johnson said. “But I’d like to have it for special occasions.”

The permit was approved by the selectmen.