Rangeley will hold a public hearing and a special town meeting after Town Manager Joe Roach discovered a warrant article was left off the June town meeting ballot.

The article would have authorized the Board of Selectmen to use reserve account funds. Without the approved article, selectmen do not have the authority to approve spending that money.

“So, all the purchases that we need to make in regard to the reserve we need to pause on because it technically wasn’t voted on because it didn’t show up on the ballot,” Ethan Shaffer, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said at the Monday meeting.

Roach explained that the article was on the approved warrant, but was missing from the ballots that came back from the printer. It wasn’t discovered until recently, Roach said.

“The administration did not catch that,” he said.

The ballots typically get at least two reviews when they are returned from the printer, Roach added.

“Obviously the process will be fine-tuned,” he said.

Shaffer reiterated that this year, when the ballots come back from the printer, they will need additional sets of eyes. He said it is the town manager’s job to check the accuracy of the ballots, but “we all looked at the ballot and nobody at this table caught it either.”

The public hearing will be held at 5 p.m. Jan. 20 at the Town Office.

The special town meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Jan. 27 at Rangeley Lakes Regional School.

The question will ask if the board should be authorized to spend reserve account funds, including for purchases already made this fiscal year.

Roach said town code requires voter authorization for reserve fund spending. The board discussed amending the code to allow the board to spend reserve account funds without having to be authorized each year, but no action was taken.