PARIS— Tensions rose at Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, culminating in a back-and-forth exchange between the board and residents.
The opportunity for residents to address the agenda items – from weighing the cost of placing the Special Amusement Ordinance on November’s regional ballot, to safety of the Paris Town Office’s parking lot fence — began as a substantive redress of prior decisions.
When the Extended Sick Leave Policy, an item resident Janet Jamison requested to place on the agenda, came up for discussion, Jamison questioned the creation of the policy, believing the board had overstepped its bounds by amending the policy.
“Why, oh why, would you sit at that front table and make policy on the fly — as it is — when you have a policy and procedures committee which is staffed with competent, intelligent, reliable people who have the time and ability to look in to this?” she asked.
“It just doesn’t seem like a very effective way to do business,” she said.
Chairman Robert Kirchherr said, “Well I will remind you Janet that we selectmen did not vote. Three voted in favor of it, but two did not. So when you say ‘you selectmen passed a policy’ that is not accurate.”
“OK, then let’s back up,” Jamison said. “Why are you, as chair, not saying, ‘Wait a minute, we have a Policy and Procedures Committee that’s fully capable of looking into this for us’ instead of getting excited and saying, ‘we’ve got to get this done.'”
Kirchherr, looking around the room, asked, “Are there any other comments?”
Jamison asked if Kirchherr would respond to her comments.
Kirchherr said he he didn’t believe a question had been asked.
“Why aren’t policies being run through Policies and Procedures?” Jamison asked.
Board members expressed regret and frustration with the proceeding’s tone.
“I 100 percent wholeheartedly disagree with the tone and presentation,” Selectman Robert Wessels began, “but I agree with (Jamison) that we could take a look at this. I think it’s a great idea.”
Another selectmen echoed Wessels’ sentiments.
“I object to the tone of the comments,” Selectman Samuel Elliot said. “I think we need to pay attention to that. We’re welcome to hear any polite, thoughtful comments, concerns, or disagreements, but snide remarks and those nasty comments are over the top, unnecessary and we’ve had enough. Or at least I have,” he said.
Selectman Gerald Kilgore acknowledged that no one, including the board, is infallible.
“We all sit here and try to do our best. We don’t want to sit here and make mistakes, but you tell me which one of you people sitting in the audience has never made a mistake,” Kilgore said.
There was silence and Kilgore continued.
“I don’t see any hands going up. I bet you a lot of you have made mistakes in the past, and we try to rectify our mistakes and do the best we can with what we have to work with,” he said.
With no further debate, the board voted to send the Extended Sick Leave Policy to the Policy and Procedures Committee.
Unknowingly, Kathy Richardson, a Policy and Procedures committed member, had foreshadowed the controversy earlier in the meeting.
“This is a democratic process and it is messy. This is home rule. We are the people of Paris and one of the things we are allowed to do is take part in our government,” she said.
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