DOVER-FOXCROFT – The proposed adoption of a code of conduct and ethics generated a fair amount of discussion among selectmen Tuesday.

Crafted by a local committee, the draft document outlines financial conflicts of interest, incompatibility of office, prohibited appointments or employment, and bias. It was the hope of the committee to present a finished document to the board for adoption next month.

Selectman Joyce Perry, who pointed out the proposed code carried no consequences, recommended it be placed before voters as a charter amendment or ordinance.

“We’re governed by the citizens, and for us to write our own code of ethics is kinda like the fox guarding the hen house,” Perry said Tuesday.

Selectman Cindy Freeman Cyr, who helped write the draft, disagreed. “I think the citizens elected us to do this work,” she said.

In a related matter, the board received a letter from resident Hilda Mulherin representing a group called Citizens United. Mulherin said her organization wanted selectmen to vote to prohibit public officers, town officials, and members of all boards, commissions and committees, and their immediate family members, from being awarded town contracts.

“We of Citizens United believe there can be no integrity in government where contracts for goods and services are awarded to the very people who are voting on those contracts,” Mulherin wrote. She said action by the board would comply with the recently adopted town charter.

While no action was taken Tuesday on either issue, Selectman Dennis Lyford noted that the town charter includes a provision for a recall petition should a board member abuse his or her authority.

In other business, donation of a granite sign for the South Dover Cemetery was accepted with thanks from Virgil Pratt of Hermon.

Pratt, who grew up in Dover-Foxcroft, said it is very difficult for people from away to find the cemetery where his late wife, Sandra, is buried. Piscataquis Monumental Co. of Dover-Foxcroft offered a discount on a granite marker when it learned of his plan, he said Tuesday. He hopes to have the marker in place this fall.