HERMON – With little opposition, the Hermon Town Council voted Thursday to hire a consultant, in the words of one councilor, to “referee” what has been a contentious process of setting town goals and reviewing the town manager.

The council voted 4-1, with two members absent, to hire Starboard Leadership Consulting to help the council move forward. The cost of $3,850, which will come from two reserve accounts, was a concern to some councilors, who felt comfortable in developing goals in house.

“I think I’m all set with setting goals and objectives and evaluating the town manager,” said Councilor Anthony Reynolds, who voted against hiring the consultant. Reynolds said he might have been swayed to hire the consultant because he felt council Vice Chairman Michael Soucy was having problems with the process and “to get him on board I would spend the money to get us all together.”

But with Soucy being one of the two councilors absent, Reynolds said he was no longer sure just how upset Soucy had been, so he voted against spending the money.

Councilor Alden Brown, for one, wasn’t convinced that the process of setting goals and reviewing the town manager could be done informally or in-house as some councilors had suggested.

“I’m not sure it can be. I’m really not sure it can be,” he said.

Largely unspoken but understood at the meeting were months of contention in the council over the previous evaluation of Town Manager Clint Deschene. Some councilors have contended that not all their views were considered, that most councilors were cut off from the process by an arbitrary deadline set by a previous council chairman.

At Thursday’s meeting, Brown broached the issue when he lightly described the consultant as serving as a “referee.” With help from the consultant, the council is to develop a new instrument for reviewing the town manager.

The council voted 5-0 to take the funding from the legal liability reserve account and the planning and ordinance reserve account.