PARIS — A planned Wednesday meeting of the three towns of Norway, Oxford and Paris is down to two.

Selectmen in the three towns had set a meeting at the Paris Fire Station months ago to talk about cooperation and shared services.

Paris Town Manager Phil Tarr said Oxford Town Manager Michael Chammings called to cancel last Tuesday.

According to Chammings, with budgets nearly complete and turnover likely on all three Boards of Selectmen, it didn’t make sense for Oxford to attend.

“Both Norway and Paris have two selectmen out and we have one selectman out,” Chammings said Tuesday. “If we’re going to do anything, it would be nice to have the whole board actually in place.”

Chammings also cited Oxford’s budget, which is nearly finished and couldn’t be changed. “There’s not a lot we can do because the budget is about finalized,” he said.

He said Oxford plans to participate in the next planned tri-town meeting next fall.

Norway and Paris selectmen, department heads and town managers will attend the meeting Wednesday, Tarr said.

Tarr said the towns will discuss areas where they cooperate already, such as mutual aid with fire and police departments.

The conclusion of the meeting will hopefully lead to new areas for the towns to cooperate.

Paris Planning Board Chairman Robert Kirchherr is set to facilitate the meeting. Tarr said there is an outline of topics to discuss, but the meeting will be somewhat informal. The public is welcome and will have an opportunity to contribute to the discussion, Tarr said.

Meeting participants will eat dinner at 6 p.m. at the Paris Fire Station. Tarr said the meeting will probably begin at around 6:30 p.m. and end by 8:30 p.m.

treaves@sunjournal.com

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