PARIS – Selectmen swiftly approved agenda items Monday night, then adjourned a mere half-hour after the meeting was called to order.

A single adjustment was added to those being discussed. Dubbed “Article 10-A” by Chairwoman Barbara Payne, the article asked selectmen to decide whether or not to purchase real estate acquired for the Oxford Hills Growth Council’s scrapped tech park plan.

Paris, along with Norway, Harrison, Oxford, Otisfield, and Waterford, invested in OHGC’s plan to build a regional technically oriented business/industrial park. The article asked if selectmen chose to exercise their option to purchase the real estate. Each investing town has one vote in the matter.

Town Manager Sharon Jackson advised selectmen not to. She favored a plan of letting OHGC sell the land to pay off the debt, allowing the towns to recoup a percentage of their share of the debt.

Paris invested $25,000 in the park. Otisfield invested the most in the venture, putting $197,000 toward the park.

Selectmen voted unanimously to decline purchasing the real estate.

No residents spoke in the time allotted to them by the agenda.

Some questioning preceded the unanimous decision to appoint Robert Kirchherr as an alternate to the Planning Board. Kirchherr has lived in Paris since 1989, though he has been in the area longer.

“He’s quite familiar with the area and the people in it,” Payne said.

“I realize there’s a learning curve,” Kirchherr said, answering a question from Selectman Raymond Glover about his knowledge of the town’s land ordinances.

Payne congratulated and welcomed Kirchherr to town government.

“After this, your gray hair will be white,” Vice Chairman Gerald Kilgore said.

Selectmen set the date of the annual town meeting for 10 a.m. on June 16.

They also accepted a three-year contract with Runyon, Kersteen, Ouellette for auditing services.

“They have certainly proved themselves,” Payne said. “They helped Norway out with a mess they had over there.”

Shortly before adjourning, selectmen voted to go into executive session for labor negotiations regarding the renewal of the police union contract.

Jackson also provided February reports from the fire, highway and recreation departments. Paris Fire responded to 26 calls, including three major structure fires. The Highway Department urged residents not to plow snow into the roads under the assumption that their trucks will take care of it.

The report states that snow plowed into the road after the town’s plows have made their rounds will freeze, presenting a traffic hazard.

The selectmen’s next meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on April 9 at the Town Office.