FARMINGTON – The question of whether town employees should serve on the Budget Committee was debated by selectmen Tuesday.

A town meeting vote would be needed to amend the Budget Committee ordinance to allow municipal workers to sit on the panel. Voting 3-2, selectmen agreed to put the question to voters at a town meeting.

The committee has room for 11 regular members and four alternates, but ended this past season with only eight members.

The town enacted the ordinance in 2003. It prohibits town employees or municipal officers from serving on the Budget Committee.

Former committee member Clyde Ross left the board then because as a firefighter he was considered a part-time on-call town employee “paid when the beeper goes off,” he said.

Previously, the town would ask people to serve on a 15-member budget board with each appointment approved by selectmen, he said.

Now, the committee is the only municipal board that he can’t serve on.

“It bothers me. You ask people to participate but then they can’t because they hold another position,” he told selectmen. “It’s mind-boggling.”

Ross said he refrained from voting on the department’s budget when the committee worked on it.

The Budget Committee, like selectmen, only makes recommendations; voters approve expenditures.

He also said voters need to ask questions, read and be informed before acting on issues. He said he asked people before if they knew what they were voting for. They didn’t, he said, but voted anyway.

Some selectmen were concerned about people’s perception of having town employees on the committee and felt the prohibition is there for a reason.

Difficulty finding people to serve is more a reflection of the changing lifestyles, Town Manager Richard Davis said. He also expressed concern about the perception of seeing town employees on the board.

Ross would consider serving on the board again if the ordinance is changed, he said Thursday, but he’s not campaigning for a position.