PARIS — Selectmen on Monday discussed changing a disputed bylaw requiring all members to vote on each issue unless disqualified or excused.
Chairman Robert Kirchherr said he thought the discussion could wait until a later meeting, after selectmen had a chance to look over the bylaws.
Selectman Jean Smart sought to change a rule that sparked controversy at the two previous meetings. The rule, in Section 6 of the Board of Municipal Officers’ bylaws, states that all board members who are present and not disqualified from voting by other factors must vote on every matter unless excused by the chairman.
Smart suggested adding a provision wherein, if a board member feels he or she lacks enough information on the subject, or doesn’t have enough time “to consider an issue wisely, or is in conflict about which way to vote” they would not be required to vote.
The rule came up on Nov. 14 when Selectman Ryan Lorrain opted not to vote for a decision to suspend the bylaws when forming an advisory committee on roads. Lorrain said he felt he didn’t have enough information to make a vote.
Then-chairman Ted Kurtz told Lorrain he had to vote one way or the other and would not excuse Lorrain from voting. Other board members defended Lorrain, which led to an email from Kurtz to the rest of the board on the need to follow the town’s bylaws. After an ensuing discussion at the Nov. 28 meeting, Kurtz resigned as chairman.
Smart also spoke against the board’s practice of sometimes suspending the bylaws. “I think, if we do that, then we would be choosing deliberately not to follow them,” she said.
On Nov. 14, Kurtz said the bylaw requiring that selectmen vote on prospective committee members in the order they entered their applications could lead to a rush of people taking out applications as soon as they became available.
Suspending the bylaws on forming committees proved unnecessary, however. Only five applied to join the Ad-Hoc Road Committee, which can have a maximum of seven members.
The next meeting of the Board of Selectmen is set for Jan. 9.
treaves@sunjournal.com
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