PARIS — The Board of Selectmen plans to end Town Manager Phil Tarr’s contract in December.

On Tuesday, they voted 3-1 to write him a letter, to be handed over at the June 25 meeting, announcing their intentions to end his contract, as required by his employment agreement.

Chairman Robert Kirchherr and Selectmen Sam Elliot and Gerald Kilgore voted for the letter, which Kirchherr will fax to an attorney for review before June 25.

Selectman Ryan Lorrain voted against the motion. Earlier in the meeting, he made a motion to take no action and allow Tarr’s contract to renew automatically.

“I don’t believe that we need to get rid of our town manager,” Lorrain argued. His motion failed 3-1.

Tarr’s three-year contract, which paid him $57,000 the first year, ends in December, but will automatically extend two more years if the board doesn’t give him notice by June 30 that they will end it.

On June 11, the Paris Board of Selectmen voted 3-1 to not to end Tarr’s contract, with the knowledge that the board would be able to vote on the contract before its automatic extension was sealed on June 30.

Kirchherr wanted to speak to the town’s attorney to learn the town’s options and try to curb the chance of the town facing litigation from Tarr, as it did with the termination of its previous town manager, Sharon Jackson.

Tarr’s contract was for a three-year period beginning Jan. 4, 2010. “The agreement may be automatically extended for an additional 2 year period,” the contract reads, subject to certain provisions.

One such provision is that Tarr must have six months’ advance notice of the board’s intent not to renew the contract or enter into a new one with him. “Failure to advise the Town Manager shall constitute renewal of this agreement for an additional term,” the contract reads.

Kirchherr wanted to ask the town attorney about the contract’s term, concerned that the word “automatically” could open the town up to litigation.

Elliot disagreed, saying the term “may be” in reference to the contract renewal was most important, and made the decision a nonrenewal of contract, not a termination.

A vote to consult an attorney failed 2-2, with Kilgore and Lorrain voting against it, for different reasons. Kilgore wanted to vote in the contract immediately.

“Shouldn’t this have been taken care of long before we came to this point?” Kilgore asked. He said the board should immediately vote, rather than delaying the issue.

Elliot argued that the town was entirely within its rights to not renew. “We had an agreement. He did his job and we paid him. The slate is even,” Elliot said. “We are not asking him to resign. We are not terminating him. We are simply not renewing his contract.”

Tarr said it wasn’t that simple. “It’s a three-plus-two year contract,” Tarr said. “It automatically extends, unless the board sends me a letter by the 30th of this month.

“It may not be over,” he said.

Tarr urged the board to reconsider the direction of the discussion. “Let’s put our heads together and try to do better,” he said. “Let’s both accept responsibility instead of having such a negative conversation like this.”

Kirchherr didn’t directly respond, and called for a vote on the issue.

The Board of Selectmen meets at 7 p.m. Monday, June 25, at the Town Office.

treaves@sunjournal.com

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