Paris makes plans for recalling selectmen

PARIS — By the time voters go to the polls in June to elect a new Paris selectman, they may also have before them a plan to remove from office any on the board who fail to meet their expectations.

On Monday, selectmen voted unanimously to ask the town’s policy and procedures committee to draft a recall ordinance.  Without such an ordinance, it is nearly impossible to remove a selectmen from office under state law, even after criminal wrongdoing.

Creation of the ordinance was proposed by Paris Hill resident Kathleen Richardson.  She had previously posed the idea last summer, shortly after signing on to a complaint filed in Superior Court against two selectmen by her neighbor, Bob Moorehead.

That suit, which charged Glen Young and former selectmen Ernie Fitts with voting to further personal interests, eventually was dropped. 

Since Richardson’s original inquiry into ways to remove elected officials from office, her husband, Jack, has been made chairman of the town’s policy and procedures committee, which will draft the recall ordinance.

Another group in town reports that it already has a recall ordinance on the table, ready for submission.

Rick Jackson claims to be spokesman for an unidentified group of “about 17” Paris landowners.  That group recently forced consideration of an amended subdivision ordinance with the submission of 221 valid signatures from registered Paris voters.

However, when selectmen moved consideration of that ordinance to the June referendum, instead of calling a special town meeting, as requested in the petition, Jackson announced that his group would submit a recall ordinance.

Jackson later said his group had on hand the minimum 211 signatures needed to also force a vote on his recall ordinance, adding that he would turn them in at a special selectboard meeting, January 29.

However, at that meeting, Jackson said his group had decided to hold its cards.  It would wait until after the first public hearing held to consider their subdivision proposal, before deciding whether or not to move forward with the recall.

By Monday, Jackson had not turned in his recall proposal, or the signatures he claimed to have on hand.

Jackson could not be reached for comment Tuesday.  It is unclear at this time whether his group will be content to accept the town’s recall proposal, or if it will attempt to submit its own version to selectmen.