STEUBEN – Residents of this western Washington County town have decided to change to a town manager form of government, but their vote may be headed for a court challenge by town selectmen.

At issue is whether some petitioners acted within the law when they enlisted a notary public to call a special town meeting at which voters Wednesday night approved the town manager proposal 79-22.

Petitioner Frank Joy said the group took its case to notary Sheila Robinson because state law permits voters to petition a notary public if selectmen unreasonably refuse to grant a request for a meeting.

Joy said the Steuben Board of Selectmen refused a petition to schedule a vote on the town manager proposal in time for annual town meeting.

Steuben’s annual town meeting is March 4, and state law requires that a vote to change the form of town government take place 90 days before an annual town meeting, Joy said.

To meet that deadline, petitioners asked selectmen to schedule a special town meeting by Dec. 1. But Joy said board members said they’d add the article to the warrant of a special town meeting scheduled for Dec. 15. That meeting is for voters to act on the town’s comprehensive plan, he said.

Joy said the selectmen are on record as opposing the change to a town manager form of government and he understands they intend to challenge the legality of Wednesday’s special town meeting.

Selectman Gloria Moore declined to comment Thursday on how selectmen will respond, saying the board hadn’t been formally notified of the results of the vote and is not scheduled to meet until Thursday.

But Moore said the Maine Municipal Association has advised selectmen “to stand the ground.” It was the MMA that initially advised selectmen that a town the size of Steuben didn’t need a town manager form of government, she said.

Wednesday night’s vote is the culmination of months of controversy in this town of approximately 1,200.

Last March, voters approved a warrant article directing selectmen to investigate a town manager form of government.

Joy said no action was taken on that article until after a special town meeting in August at which voters approved a proposal to change from a three-member board to a five-member board.

Shortly after that meeting, selectmen appointed a nine-member citizen committee to look into a town manager form of government, Joy said.

Joy said he attended the Sept. 13 meeting of the board and asked selectmen what exactly they wanted the committee to do. Selectmen told him they were going to Augusta on Sept. 20 to meet with the MMA, he said.

“When they came back from Augusta, they decided there was no need for a committee and, in October, they posted a notice saying that they were recommending against a selectman-town manager-town meeting form of government.” Joy said.

Moore said selectmen went to Augusta to consult with the MMA after Joy asked them who was going to pay for committee expenses, such as phone bills and mileage.

“We told him we’d get back to him after we spoke with MMA,” she said. “MMA advised us that a town of our size didn’t need a town manager and that it would be expensive.”

Joy, who is the acting chairman of the citizen committee, said the committee met regularly and decided that a town manager form of government fit the needs of the town.

Committee members feel the town needs some new leadership, he said, and two of the three selectmen have missed quite a lot of time because of hospitalizations.

Aware of the 90-day lead time for a town meeting vote, Joy said, he asked the selectmen during their Oct. 25 meeting to schedule a special town meeting to vote on the proposal. Selectmen said they would go along with the request if there were enough interest, he said.

“We then went out and gathered 186 valid signatures on a petition and presented it to selectmen at their next meeting on November 8,” he said. “The selectmen discussed it and said they wouldn’t agree to have a meeting before December 1 because it was too close to the other [Dec. 15] special town meeting.”

Moore said selectmen refused to call a special town meeting in November because they didn’t see the need for it. There was no emergency, so board members told Joy they’d put it on the Dec. 15 warrant, she said.

Moore said she attended the next meeting of the citizen committee and that was the night they decided to petition Robinson.

Deborah Cabana, director of elections and commissions, said Tuesday that state statute authorizes voters to petition a notary public to post a meeting if selectmen unreasonably refuse, but the law doesn’t provide further information.

There aren’t even guidelines that outline the procedure for conducting such a meeting, Cabana said.