PARIS — The town has declined to participate in an election that was scheduled for Tuesday by a notary public.

A warrant with articles concerning recalling David Ivey and Troy Ripley, chairman and vice chairman of the Board of Selectmen, respectively, was submitted to the town on Dec. 17. The action came 10 days after the board failed to set a recall election for the two officials, but the board agreed to set two elections for four officials the day after the notary warrant was received.

In a letter to notary public Barbara West, interim Town Clerk Elizabeth Knox gives four reasons forwarded by town attorney Geoffrey Hole for the refusal. He said the Tuesday date did not give 30 days’ notice to the public, did not allow absentee ballots to be made available 45 days in advance, and would disenfranchise certain voters who would not be able to use absentee ballots. The letter also said that state law does not allow a notary to call a secret ballot election.

Hole, in a letter to Knox, also said the recall ordinance does not allow a notary to call a town meeting and that selectmen “did not ‘unreasonably refuse’ to call an election, but rather had difficulty agreeing upon dates.” Under state law, a notary may call a meeting if they receive a petition containing signatures equal to at least 10 percent of the voters of the last gubernatorial election and voters feel selectmen “unreasonably refuse to call a town meeting.”

A recall ordinance passed in a November referendum vote says that within two weeks of receiving a petition for the removal of an elected official, selectmen must schedule a recall election. The petitions for Ivey and Ripley were received on Nov. 22 and on Dec. 7. Selectmen Raymond Glover and Lloyd “Skip” Herrick proposed setting a single recall election for the two officials on Jan. 14. The proposal fell through after Ivey and Ripley abstained from the vote and Selectman Glen Young said he would only support setting a recall election if separate dates were set for Ivey and Ripley.

At their next meeting on Dec. 14, the board accepted recall petitions for Glover and Herrick but could not agree on setting a date for the recall elections. Ripley proposed setting one election for Glover and Herrick on Jan. 26 and another for Ivey and himself on Feb. 5, but was the only selectman voting on the proposal.

The board agreed on Dec. 18 to set two recall elections in February. Residents will vote on whether they will remove Ivey and Herrick on Feb. 1 and Glover and Ripley on Feb. 5.

West was unavailable for comment Friday.

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