PARIS — A selectman contemplated whether the town could take legal action against former members of the Board of Selectmen who approved the termination of former town manager Sharon Jackson’s employment contract.

Selectman Ted Kurtz, who is vice chairman on the board and works as an attorney, raised the question after Town Manager Philip Tarr gave the board the total costs associated with the firing of Jackson and a subsequent lawsuit.

Tarr said direct costs included $47,922.06 coming from compensation paid to Jackson per her contract, $32,502.76 from a proposed settlement agreement and $8,820.78 from legal services through May. Tarr said the total is $105,445 if the 27 weeks an interim town manager worked in the town are included.

“I suspect there will be more legal fees,” Tarr said. “We’ll be billed in July.”

Jackson’s contract was terminated in a 3-2 vote in June 2009. She filed an appeal in Oxford County Superior Court a month later, charging that Selectman Troy Ripley’s vote was invalid because a warrant article passed at a 1999 town meeting sets July 1 as the start date for newly elected officials. The suit accused Ripley, Selectman Glen Young and Chairman David Ivey of holding illegal clandestine meetings to determine the action and also charged breach of contract, failure of timely payments, violation of the Maine Freedom of Access Act, violation of a state statute and constitutional rights, negligence and defamation.

Ivey and Ripley were recalled from office at elections in February, Ripley after submitting his resignation. Young resigned for personal reasons in March.

Jackson was hired as the interim town manager of Fryeburg in March and confirmed as the new manager in May. The Paris selectmen approved the settlement last month, with the $32,502.76 figure representing lost income between Paris ceasing compensation payments and Fryeburg hiring Jackson. Residents must still approve the settlement at a special town meeting on July 26.

Selectwoman Jean Smart asked whether other costs should be considered as well, such as advertising for a new town manager and recall elections held in the wake of Jackson’s dismissal.

“I just think we need to include every last penny that this whole year cost us,” Smart said.

Tarr said he would work to include any ancillary costs. Kurtz referenced the higher estimate of The Paris Reporter, an anonymous blog commenting on the town government, which put the figure at $129,760.14. This amount includes the costs mentioned by Tarr as well as the recall elections, advertising and Tarr’s salary between his hiring in December and the board’s decision to settle.

Selectman Lloyd “Skip” Herrick said the tally was of interest to residents since it is raised from taxes. Kurtz said the amount of money was “spilled milk” unless the town wishes to take legal action against the three selectmen who voted in favor of Jackson’s termination, but also said he would be interested in having a lawyer see if there is a case for malfeasance.

“I would be interested in maybe having a lawyer look at it,” Kurtz said. “Selectmen cannot be sued for what they do as selectmen, because if they could, then no one would be a selectman. But I believe there’s an exception when a selectman acts with malice.”

Kurtz said that the reason an executive session was scheduled to discuss Jackson’s contract on the day she was fired was to determine whether she would renounce a salary increase. In January 2009, Jackson’s new contract extended her employment to 2014 and authorized salary increases from $60,216 to $64,116 in 2009 and to $68,016 in 2010. Jackson requested to have the executive session held in public.

“When they insist that a town employee give up her legal rights and then they say, ‘If you don’t give up your legal rights, we’re going to buy out your contract,’ to me that suggests malice,” Kurtz said.

Resident Robert Jewell cautioned Kurtz, saying a lawsuit could be an additional cost burden on the town and that it might be best to have the town put the issue to rest.

“I think you need to be very, very careful when you sue a selectman,” Jewell said.

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