PARIS – People at Monday’s meeting asked if the board could require its members to attend meetings.

The discussion came about after Janet Jamison questioned the absence of Selectman Glen Young.

“He ran for this seat. He said he wanted this job. Where the hell is he?” asked Jamison. “Is there no accountability as far as showing up?”

According to resident Barbara Payne, Young has missed six of the past nine selectmen’s meetings.

Town Manager Sharon Jackson said Young told her he would not be at Monday’s meeting because he would be moose hunting in the northern part of the state.

Chairman Raymond Glover said there are no rules in place regarding meeting attendance by selectmen, and the town has no power to remove an elected official before his term expires. Young was elected in June 2007 to serve until 2010.

“I think anybody who is elected by the public is responsible to the public to serve them properly by attending and taking part in the affairs they’re elected to serve,” Glover said.

He said putting standards on a selectmen’s service would have to fall under a recall ordinance.

Jackson said such an ordinance would require a town vote.

Poland enacted a recall ordinance in 1993, which requires a petition with voter signatures equivalent to 15 percent of the number who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election. An official may be recalled by a majority of voters.

Harpswell’s recall ordinance, enacted in 2005, lists grounds for recall, including the absence of a selectman from at least half of the regularly scheduled meetings for any six-month period. The ordinance also requires one-third of the number of voters in the last gubernatorial election to sign a petition for a recall election, and an affirmative vote of two-thirds majority for an official to be removed.

Glover said that the Maine Municipal Officers manual notes that an officer can be fined for “severe dereliction of duty” or removed by court order in the most serious cases. He said there are no examples of the latter occurring in Maine.

Jamison suggested that Young’s annual stipend of $1,000 could be prorated based on attendance.

Young was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

The board took no action on the issue.