WILLIMANTIC – An opinion will be sought from the Maine Municipal Association to determine if two former selectmen and a current board member exceeded their legal authority in paying attorney fees.

Residents Julius Erdo and Rick Packard requested last month that selectmen begin criminal proceedings against Bruce Thomas and former selectmen Debbie Pettigrew and Jeff Morin to recover $4,670.13, an amount they claim was misappropriated. The funds were paid without authority to Eaton Peabody of Dover-Foxcroft for legal expenses regarding a winter road maintenance contract and a recall petition, the two men said.

“I think it’s something that’s probably legitimate,” Selectman John Tatko Jr. said Thursday of Erdo and Packard’s request, before the board agreed to seek an opinion from MMA.

Selectman Susan Bennett said residents in August 2003 voted to take $1,500 from surplus for legal expenses and contingencies and they also approved an article that permitted selectmen to transfer unexpended balances to offset overdrafts in other accounts. As such, Bennett believes selectmen had the authority to pay the bill for the legal work done in 2003-2004.

Pettigrew, Morin and Thomas retained attorney Erik Stumpfel of Eaton Peabody in the spring 2004 for advice on the winter road maintenance contract and recall petition, Bennett said. That work totaled $6,170 and included legal fees, court filing fees and fees for a deputy sheriff to serve papers on citizens leading a recall effort. Prior to the end of the fiscal year, the legal firm was paid $1,500, she said.

At the August 2004 annual town meeting, residents voted down any funds for legal expenses, according to Bennett. The balance of the bill for legal work done in the 2003-2004 fiscal year was paid by the trio subsequent to the August meeting. Payment for work the law firm performed after July 1, 2004, has been repeatedly turned down by residents, she said.

Stumpfel said Friday that Pettigrew, Morin and Thomas were indeed within their rights to have paid the legal fees for the snow plow contract issue, a review and advice on two citizen petitions, and for the drafting and filing of a motion for injunction against an attempted “illegal takeover” of the town. In addition to appropriating funds for legal services in the 2003-04 town budget, residents in 2003 gave selectmen full authority to transfer surplus funds between accounts, he explained.

The two bills from Eaton Peabody paid by the selectmen were for legal services provided to the town during fiscal year 2003-04 and were legally paid under the selectmen’s fiscal year 2003-04 budget authority, Stumpfel said. Had the bills for services provided during fiscal year 2003-04 not been paid, Stumpfel said his firm would have been entitled to go to court and obtain a judgment against the town, although it rarely does so in such cases.

Because residents approved no funds for legal services at the August 2004 town meeting and stripped the board’s authority to transfer surplus funds between accounts, an additional bill incurred by the town after July 31, 2004, of $1,600 remains unpaid and has been written off as not able to be collected, Stumpfel said. As a result, the firm no longer provides legal services to the town.