BETHEL —Selectmen voted 3-2 Friday not to ratify a contract with the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office because of potential liability for the town and selectmen.

A lawyer for the town said it had a 50-50 chance of being held liable for the money to pay for county police services if the issue ever went to court.

That’s because voters at town meeting last year appropriated money to specifically operate a Police Department, and selectmen wanted to use that money toward the proposed Sheriff’s Office contract.

“(Attorney Geoffrey Hole) thinks there’s some exposure that if the town then uses that money to pay for a contract, it would be a misappropriation of funds,” Town Manager Jim Doar said. “The argument would be, ‘It’s a contract. Where else would the funds come from? That’s what the voters in June meant.’”

“The other argument is, ‘No, it’s police department,'” he said.

“So, shouldn’t that be cleared up before we do anything, before we expose you gentlemen to some sort of liability?” resident Bud Kulik asked. He was among the standing-room-only crowd of more than 30 people in the town office meeting room.

Selectman Robert Everett said both the board and the town would be liable.

“Once you get lawyers involved with this thing, the money aspect of this, it just goes up,” he said. “And how much do we want to pay per year for our lawyer? And we’re going to pay more if we get into this and people do what I think they’re going to do.”

Everett suggested waiting until this year’s June town meeting to straighten out the potential problem. “We can have a referendum vote, we can clean up the money aspect of it, and people will tell us again whether they want it or not.”

Sheriff Wayne Gallant said Friday’s vote was Bethel’s decision and wouldn’t affect his office or service to Bethel during the 110-day interim.

“We’ll still be here in June,” Gallant said. “It’s a choice they made. They came to us for services. We didn’t come looking for the proposal. If they want to do it in June, I’ll respect it, but we’ll still provide them the same service we do now.”

Selectmen Don Bennett, Robert Everett and Chairman Stan Howe voted against ratifying the contract; Selectmen Dennis Doyon and Jack Cross voted for it.

At a Feb. 9 special town meeting, townspeople voted 104-89 to authorize selectmen to negotiate and enter into a contract with the Sheriff’s Office to provide coverage to the town. Bethel’s Police Department would be dissolved.

But Friday’s decision means residents will vote again on the issue at the annual town meeting in June, Howe said afterward.

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