BYRON – At a special board meeting on Tuesday night in the town office, Selectmen Corey Freeman and Mike Gallant decided they needed more time this week to review municipal matters before them.

So they scheduled another board meeting for 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, in the town office.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, they tried to decide when to convene a special town meeting to consider amending the May 19 ordinance that bans the expansion or development of new commercial campgrounds, recreational vehicle parks and seasonal trailer parks in Byron.

They also agreed to add a warrant item to elect a third selectman. Byron elects from the floor.

The board has been operating without a third selectman since First Selectman Bruce Simmons resigned in early June after learning that the ordinance approved by special town meeting voters on May 19 won’t hold up in court.

Because the ordinance lacks content, Gallant said he recently asked Planning Board Chairman Dave Duguay for advice. Duguay, he added, suggested sending the ordinance to the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments to have it fill in the missing content.

Gallant then brought that copy – complete with revisions and additions marked – to Tuesday night’s meeting and introduced it via the meeting.

During the meeting, the pair, who were elected in March and are still learning how to operate municipal government, decided they could bypass convening a public hearing and just go straight to a special town meeting. One was scheduled for next month.

After finishing other minor business, the pair left and went home, only to be called back to reconvene the board meeting when Town Clerk Allison Freeman learned that according to the current ordinance, a public hearing must be convened by the Planning Board when amendments are proposed regarding this particular ordinance.

During their back-and-forth discussions amongst themselves and former Town Clark Rosie Susbury, public hearing and special town meeting dates were set, then nixed later when Duguay stopped by the town office. Susbury has been advising the pair and helping Freeman learn her job.

Susbury pointed out that the ordinance also states that amendments could only be initiated by a majority vote of planners, or by the request of selectmen to planners, or via a written petition signed by 11 people. Either way, a public hearing must still be held.

Because selectmen didn’t ask planners to revise the ordinance, they couldn’t bypass going before the board with the amendments.

So, on Friday, Gallant and Freeman will attempt to ensure they’re doing everything legally correct, then schedule a public hearing and special town meeting.