CHESTERVILLE — The Board of Selectmen on Thursday night rescheduled the annual town meeting to March 24 because only two of them had signed the warrant.

The meeting and elections were scheduled for Monday, March 10, but due to the lack of a signature, the board agreed Thursday to hold the meeting as soon as the warrant could be legally reposted and advertised.

The town election will take place from 1 to 6 p.m. Monday, March 24, and the meeting will follow at 7 p.m. at the Town Office. Selectmen had not yet talked with Historical Society members on whether the annual supper could also be moved.

Copies of the annual town report arrived from the printer Feb. 28. One article on the warrant was on a page by itself. The four selectmen working on the warrant signed below that article, Selectman Guy Iverson said.

While preparing the town report for the printer, the one article and signatures had been left out and had to be redone. Only two selectmen were available to sign, Iverson and Chairman David Archer. Iverson said he did try to reach a third selectman. Three signatures were needed to make the warrant official.

Everything on the warrant is correct now except the date, Archer said.

The board intended to reprint the page and sign the warrant Thursday night. It will be posted at the Town Office, he said.

One resident asked selectmen how people were going to be notified about the meeting. He also wanted someone held accountable.

Board members assured him the error was not intentional. 

“No one wanted this to go wrong,” Iverson said. “We’re human beings.” 

“It was a mistake on the part of the selectmen,” Selectman Josefa “Jo” Hanson said. “We work as a team. We’ll do all we can to make it right.”

As the discussion became more confrontational, a Franklin County deputy was called. The resident left the meeting quietly.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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