PARIS — Lawyers for the town of Paris and former Town Manager Sharon Jackson have asked a judge to allow more time to collect materials in the case.

The items, including interviews with the five selectmen on the board at the time Jackson’s contract was terminated, were due in Oxford County Superior Court on Wednesday. In a motion filed with the court, attorney Bryan Dench asked that the deadline be extended 60 days to April 10. Dench said attorney Geoffrey Hole joined in the request.

The motion states that a delay is needed because four of the five selectmen on the board were subject to recall efforts. Those votes, which took place last week, recalled Chairman David Ivey and Vice Chairman Troy Ripley, who had resigned prior to the election. Voters kept Selectmen Raymond Glover and Lloyd “Skip” Herrick in office.

The motion does not say how the recall elections affect Jackson’s appeal. Dench and Hole were unavailable for comment  Wednesday.

In June, the Board of Selectmen voted 3-2 to terminate Jackson’s contract without cause. The contract, which was signed in January 2009, extended her employment through June 2014. It also called for her annual salary to be increased from $60,216 to $64,116 beginning in July 2009, with another raise to $68,016 beginning in July 2010.

Michael Thorne, a former town manager of Harrison and Raymond, was interim manager after the decision. In December, selectmen unanimously voted to hire Philip Tarr for $57,000 a year. Tarr formerly served as town manager of Bridgton, Bethel and Skowhegan, as well as chairman of the Maine Harness Racing Commission and community manager of the Lake Arrowhead homeowners association in York County.

Dench said that under a warrant article passed by the town in 1999, Ripley should not have been seated until July 1 and therefore the vote should have tied 2-2. On Hole’s recommendation, selectmen voted 3-1 at a later meeting to ratify the earlier decision firing Jackson.

Dench argued that Ivey, Ripley and Selectman Glen Young held clandestine meetings in violation of the Freedom of Access Act to decide to terminate Jackson’s contract. The lawsuit also charges a failure of timely payment of wages, violation of constitutional rights, negligence, defamation, and violation of a state statute calling for selectmen to provide the town clerk with a preliminary resolution stating reasons for removal and allow for the manager to speak at a public hearing.

The appeal asked that the June vote be declared null and void, that Jackson’s contract remain in effect, and that the court award any damages it determines to be proper.

Hole’s reply to the lawsuit denied the charges and said that Ripley was properly seated at the time of the vote. He also said the selectmen did not deprive Jackson of her rights and acted within the authority of the contract, which allowed for termination without cause. Dench previously said that clause in the contract may be improper given the conditions of the state statute cited in the lawsuit.

At Monday’s selectmen’s meeting, Glover said that as of Feb. 5 the town had exceeded the amount budgeted for legal fees by $1,486. He said that legal fees come from the general administrative account, which had used about $270,000 of its $462,198 budget as of Friday. If the account goes over budget, money may be taken from the general fund to cover the overage; if the money spent comes in under budget, the remaining balance will go into the general fund.

Selectmen previously voted down one settlement offer in the lawsuit.

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