BUCKFIELD — Of the roughly 60 residents at Saturday’s five-hour town meeting, a majority managed to pare amounts in several articles.

But an attempt to remove the position of Town Manager Glen Holmes failed, thanks in part to quick action from Holmes himself.

Amid a flurry of amendment attempts, voters cut $42,750 from the proposed municipal budget. They also agreed to take $44,000 from the fund balance to buy down the tax rate, and later added another $18,000 to that.

By meeting’s end, neither Holmes nor Town Clerk Cynthia Dunn could say what voters OK’d for the municipal budget.

Going into the meeting, the proposed municipal budget was $1.48 million, which was down $155,685 from last year.

After electing Rep. Terry Hayes, D-Buckfield, as moderator, contention with recommendations from selectmen and the Budget Committee came quickly.

The first of several lengthy discussions on warrant articles came on Article 7, which sought a total appropriation of $224,105 for the General Government Administration account.

Resident Tony Bachelder motioned instead to appropriate $179,972.60. It was viewed as an attempt to oust Holmes, because Bachelder said he’d like to cut a position in the Town Office to save $44,132.40.

However, Holmes said Bachelder’s number didn’t correspond directly with any wages of Town Office employees. He said his own salary is $46,800, the clerk’s wages are $32,450, and the office assistant’s wages are $19,522.

“The reason I come up with $44,132.40 was that was on the contract of the town manager and I didn’t realize that that number had been changed to a higher number,” Bachelder said.

A woman asked what it would mean to Buckfield if the town manager’s position were eliminated.

Holmes said the article as written wouldn’t necessarily affect any jobs in the Town Office. It simply meant selectmen would have to determine where to pare Bachelder’s amount, if approved, he said.

“This is clearly an attempt to remove the town manager, and if so, would somebody please say that?” Kennard Hicks asked. “We’ve been through this before.”

Bachelder attempted to move the question for a vote, but Moderator Hayes said there wasn’t any need for that if no one else wanted to speak.

That’s when Holmes quickly motioned to amend Bachelder’s amount to the $224,105 recommended by selectmen and the Budget Committee. It was seconded.

Holmes said that if the desire on Saturday was to have a town run by selectmen and to remove the town manager, it would take a different process, in his opinion.

After Holmes’ amendment was approved, an attempt was made to amend that to $214,105, but it failed.

A woman requested a secret ballot vote instead of a show of hands. The $224,105 was approved, 36-22.

Fire and rescue articles then bore the brunt of contention for several minutes before amendments were voted down and original recommendations approved.

An attempt was made to raise and appropriate $4,500 overall for social services.

Despite requests for donations from officials with the Rape Education and Crisis Hotline, Western Maine Transportation Services and the Rural Community Action Ministry, voters approved no appropriation.

Voters pared $5,000 from the Public Works Garage account, $7,000 from Highway Equipment and $22,750 from summer road maintenance.

They also decided against contracting with the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department for continued additional coverage, approving no appropriation instead of the recommended $8,000.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com