PERU — The Board of Selectmen voted 2-1 Monday evening to accept the resignation of Wayne Moore from the Planning Board and the Finance Committee.

Chairman Larry Snowman and Selectman Wendy Henderson voted to accept the resignation, while Selectman Jim Pulsifer voted against it. Selectman John Witherell abstained from voting.

Pulsifer said that he would be in favor of accepting Moore’s resignation from the Finance Committee, but felt he was a valuable asset to the Planning Board.

“He’s done a lot of good work for the Planning Board, and I’d like to see him stick around,” Pulsifer said. “He’s been useful.”

Witherell, however, was vehemently against Moore remaining on the Planning Board, citing a meeting in December where Moore threatened to use his position on the Planning Board and the Finance Committee to cause trouble for Witherell.

“After the things he said during that meeting, I don’t think he should be sitting on that board anymore,” Witherell said.

Snowman added, “It sounds like he’s made up his mind. I think we should just accept the resignation letter.”

Pulsifer told Witherell that the board has to be careful about filing complaints against the members of other boards “just because they said something about us.”

“He didn’t just say something, Jim,” Witherell shot back. “He threatened to use his position on the Planning Board and the Finance Committee against me. That’s not just a complaint against me; it’s a threat.”

Snowman pointed out to Witherell that Moore was one person on both boards and couldn’t do anything by himself.

“That’s besides the point,” Witherell said. “He threatened me. Now, I don’t mind a little name-calling. I’ve been called a lot worse by people a lot better. It was just uncalled for, and I think we should accept his letter of resignation.”

Henderson said that “Wayne made his choice, and if he wants to resign, we should let him resign.”

Steve Fuller, Chairman of the Planning Board, said he was unaware of the specifics of what Moore had said to Witherell at the December meeting, but felt Moore did an “excellent job serving on the Planning Board.”

“He struck me as someone who was all cranked up, which is easy to happen in a town like this, or any town in general,” Fuller said. “I say that we let him cool down, and see how he feels a little later.”

Witherell replied, “Steve, I asked him two weeks later if he still felt the same way about me, and he said, ‘Yes.’ He told us then that he was going to resign.”

Fuller, along with the rest of the selectmen, urged residents to take out an application for the open Planning Board seat.

In other business, the board said they wanted to remind residents that the town had a law on the books that prohibited people from plowing snow in their driveway across the street.

Road Commissioner Lee Merrill told the board that he was having trouble with people who were pushing snow from their driveway across the street, which caused problems when he attempted to plow the road.

“When they push it across the road, I come in and plow the snow directly into the next person’s driveway,” Merrill said.

Pulsifer said that there was a town law that prevented from people from pushing snow across from their driveway.

“People should be taking care of their snow on their own property,” he added.

Merrill said that he was going to deal with the situation in a “cool, collected manner,” and ask a few people at a time to stop doing it.

Snowman told Merrill that if he was having a hard time, the board could send letters to the people who were still plowing snow across the street.

mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net

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