CARMEL – In a close vote this week, Carmel residents decided not to require the town manager to foot the bill for an excavator that was removed in 2002 from a disputed property and then sold.

The 56-50 endorsement of financial immunity for Town Manager Tom Richmond on Monday showed just how polarizing and contentious an issue it had become. Town officials said more people showed up for the special town meeting than showed up for the annual budget meeting this winter.

At issue was who was to pay $5,200, the negotiated value of an excavator that Richmond authorized be taken from the McSorley gravel pit property on the Horseback Road in June 2002.

Ownership of the property at that time has been in dispute, with Richmond claiming that the town had the rights to the property.

McSorley family members countered that they still had owned the equipment when the incident took place, although the town subsequently took ownership of it.

Carmel Selectman Douglas Smith was one of those who wanted Richmond to pay the bill, claiming Richmond removed the excavator without permission.

“He did it on his own,” Smith asserted this week.

Smith said he had asked Richmond earlier this year to sign a document agreeing to pay the $5,200 himself. The town manager signed it without being compelled to do it, according to town selectmen minutes.

But at an April 5 selectmen’s meeting, residents presented the board with 129 signatures they had garnered on a petition asking for a special town meeting seeking to have the $5,200 come from town reserves and not Richmond.

The reserve money was to be applied toward reducing the $175,000 loan the town had taken out in 2002 to repair the Horseback Road.

By Monday’s vote, residents released Richmond from any liability in regards to the McSorley excavator settlement.

Although he had opposed the town picking up the tab for what he felt should have been covered by Richmond, Smith said Tuesday that he will stand by Monday’s decision.

“That’s what we’re here for, to obey the wishes of the town at a town meeting,” he said.