MECHANIC FALLS — The Town Council agreed unanimously Monday night that it would not back off from the lawsuit that charges the Androscoggin County commissioners violated either the county charter or state law when they voted to set their salaries and benefits.

“I say we stay with it until Lewiston folds,” Councilor Nick Konstantoulakis said.

“Politicians shouldn’t be allowed to set their own pay,” Councilor Stephen Bolduc said.

Council members held a special meeting Monday to respond by a Nov. 18 deadline on a settlement proposal from commissioners.

Beth Bell, chairwoman of the Board of Commissioners, sent the proposed settlement to officials in the 12 towns suing the commissioners. It is an attempt to end the dispute since, as she wrote in the proposal, “the voters of Androscoggin County have endorsed the charter amendment proposed by the board of commissioners by a vote of nearly 70 percent.”

Councilor Wayne Hackett said when he read the Nov. 3 vote had passed by 70 percent, people must have been confused by the way lawyers had phrased the question and believed the county Budget Committee had some power to control commissioners’ pay and benefits.

Hackett said he is upset with the changes that have been made to the document. He said the charter commission clearly wrote a charter that gave the county Budget Committee final say in the commissioners’ compensation “by a supermajority vote.”

“What was voted on in (November) 2014 was then changed by the commissioners,” Hackett said. “What was changed and why?”

“This is a big mess,” Bolduc said. “We have to have the court decide what the charter says. A judge would say, ‘This needs to be fixed and it shouldn’t be fixed by the county commissioners.’”

Bolduc calculated that commissioners are making about $50 an hour in salary and benefits if they are working five hours a week.

“We’re not here for the money, anybody elected to office ought to be there to help their neighbors,” Bolduc said. “But $50 an hour, are they that important?”

“This isn’t a settlement,” Bolduc added. “What needs to happen is we find people to go for the big cheese – recall – that could be the best route out of this.”