MILLINOCKET – Debate over the town’s economic direction splintered a Town Council meeting Thursday night, with one faction of councilors challenging Town Manager Eugene Conlogue’s leadership and another attacking the quasi-public economic development agency the town employs.

The strands of argument at times got convoluted with inside information, personal disputes and differing agendas and ideologies during the 21/2-hour meeting. The highlights:

. Councilors Matthew Polstein and Gail Fanjoy accused Conlogue of secretly meeting with other councilors and failing to inform them of his efforts to lure a private company to town.

. Councilors David Cyr, Jimmy Busque and Chairman John Davis advocated the town using some of its $3.1 million surplus to hire its own economic development coordinator, buy open space for industrial parks, and establish a revolving loan program that would help lure businesses to town. Some councilors took this as an attack on the town’s involvement with the Millinocket Area Growth and Investment Council.

. The council voted 4-3 to table an agreement to allow a Maine Municipal Association representative to conduct contract negotiations with town employees, which some councilors called an attempt to take responsibility from Conlogue.

. Councilors voted 4-3 to hire a consultant for about $1,200 to help the group mediate its differences, but Davis, Busque and Cyr said they would not attend the workshop. They called it a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.

. Former Councilor Donald McLaughlin criticized the town’s continuing involvement with MAGIC and promised to help revitalize an annexation effort that died in a 3-3 vote last month by pushing a referendum on the issue in the spring.

Councilors seemed to share frustration at their profound disagreement and also shared an urgent desire to draw more business and employment to Millinocket. But exactly how to do that is the rub.

Cyr, Busque and Davis advocated the economic development coordinator, expressing distrust and dissatisfaction with MAGIC’s work. Cyr accused MAGIC and leading landowners Katahdin Timberlands LLC and Great Lakes Hydro with conspiring with environmental preservationists and failing to be open to selling land to industrial business interests that want to come to town.

“We need to do something on economic development, but there’s no place to do business. We need more land,” said Cyr, a town contractor. “We have all this talk, but nothing ever gets done. I don’t see anyone pouring any concrete, and that’s what I want to see. Let’s do something instead of just talking about it.”

Polstein and Fanjoy accused Cyr of smearing MAGIC, saying the organization favors all forms of business, not just tourism. Polstein said Conlogue, a founding and continuing member of MAGIC’s board of directors, should have stood up for the organization instead of allowing it to be smeared.

The town’s commitment has been to work with MAGIC and any change in that must be resolved in a vote, not backroom politics, Polstein said.

“I feel like there’s a movement to cut MAGIC’s head off before we’ve had that discussion,” he said.

Conlogue admitted to meeting with Councilor Wallace Paul and Busque and the business owner, but said his doing so was part of his regular responsibilities as town manager.

Councilor David Nelson said he would vote against any initiative spurred by backroom politics, regardless of whether it brought business to town.