Last week, Paris Selectman Ted Kurtz put a radical idea before his fellow board members: should the town take legal action against three former selectmen who voted to fire former Town Manager Sharon Jackson last year.

Kurtz raised the question after hearing the total bill in defending a wrongful firing lawsuit filed by Jackson would be more than $105,445 and perhaps well over that figure. That includes the town’s legal costs, the settlement agreement and compensation paid to Jackson under her original employment contract.

According to Kurtz, the selectmen can’t be sued for actions they take as selectmen, unless — perhaps — they act with malice.

The Maine Tort Claims Act provides absolute immunity to public officials for actions they take, or do not take, while serving their roles in almost all cases. There are exceptions, but not very many.

And, if malice is an exception, it would be a rough exercise to prove that with absolute certainty in court.

According to Barton’s Law Dictionary, “malice (is) the state of mind that accompanies the intentional doing of a wrongful act without justification or excuse.”

If the town of Paris decided to move forward and sue former selectmen Troy Ripley, Glen Young and David Ivey, it would have to prove the trio wrongly acted in concert to fire Jackson without justification. And, in doing so, harmed her.

Jackson was harmed, to be sure. But she’s agreed to a settlement with Paris that pays out her remaining contract plus another $32,502, for a total of over $80,000. That figure surely eases the harm, it not making her whole. And, she’s since found a new job in Fryeburg.

Proving malice would not be easy, especially since Ripley, Young and Ivey have repeatedly justified their firing of Jackson in private and in public during and after the event. They believed she had to go, and voted to make that happen.

It was a mistake, as the settlement agreement attests, but was it malicious?

More importantly, does it really matter at this point?

The town is out a pile of cash, but it will spend thousands more pursuing a civil case and the maximum it can recover through Tort Claims is $400,000, so we’re not talking about a windfall if the town squeaks out a win.

The real question, here, is whether prolonging the Jackson episode is really in the best interest of the town.

Kurtz, a well-respected attorney who has been a member of the Maine bar since 1964, was first elected to the Paris board at a special election in March, winning Ivey’s seat after Ivey was recalled.

At the time, Kurtz pledged to learn the ropes of public service, observing that the system in Paris appeared to be broken. But, he said, “there’s no question. I think that it’s healing.”

It is, and while good for Kurtz to raise the question of recouping the town’s costs, pursuing a civil claim against two men who were removed from office and another who left voluntarily will do nothing to promote continued healing.

The board of selectmen in Paris must put this conflict behind them and move on. Lingering in this quarrel will not resolve anything, but will simply continue to feed the controversy splitting this town.

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