STETSON – A month after a tumultuous public hearing, 10 town employees and committee members submitted their letters of resignation during Wednesday night’s selectmen’s meeting in front of nearly 30 residents. Most of the resignations are effective June 30.

In their letters, many cited disrespectful and accusatory comments allegedly made during the public hearing by one current selectman and a soon-to-be-elected candidate for selectman as their reason for resigning.

“I would have stayed on if I thought I could have worked with these gentlemen,” Selectman Martin Hipsky said after Wednesday’s meeting. “But we’re just poles apart.”

Those who resigned included Hipsky; Terry Moore, Veronica White and Betty Bridges of the planning board; William Underhill, Rhoda Underhill and James Crocker of the parks and recreation department; Lorna Thompson, the town assessing agent; and both town clerks, Judy Biggar and Dennell Ham.

It is unclear how the resignations will affect daily operations at the town office. Since both clerks resigned, it may be difficult to find two qualified people to carry on business as usual, officials said.

Some residents on Wednesday said that during the public hearing incumbent selectman George Hockstadter and candidate David Buchstaber accused the planning board of being too powerful and the town clerks of keeping inaccurate books. Buchstaber does not officially take office until next month’s selectmen’s meeting.

“There were discrediting comments being made upon folks about financial mischief, or at least irregularity, and rumors started about people’s reputations, and I’ve had enough – I can’t stay under those conditions,” Hipsky said.

A copy of the June 7 selectmen’s meeting minutes read that Hipsky said he had received numerous phone calls from residents saying Hockstadter and Buchstaber were telling people that town office records were being shredded and an audit would need to be conducted as soon as possible. The minutes stated that Hipsky said rumors were started that every time the town received a grant, Hipsky added on to his house.

“I just couldn’t handle it with this new government,” Ham said, stating that the lack of trust from the selectmen was “a slap in the face.”

Late Wednesday night, Buchstaber said he and Hockstadter thought it only prudent for a transitional audit to take place if the clerks quit. Additionally, he said that during the public hearing he stated a land use ordinance would create a lot of work for the planning board, which he said they took as an affront to their abilities.

“You have obviously heard of the rumor mill and I am not going to be responsible for hearsay,” Buchstaber said. “We [he and Hockstadter] have no agenda; we want whatever the people want.”

During Wednesday’s meeting, longtime selectman Donald Carroll, who was not re-elected in May, losing to Buchstaber, suggested the town shut down the town office on June 30 to do some housekeeping and prepare for the transition.

Carroll said a locksmith would be called to change all the locks to the town office and the combination to the safe would be changed.

The tension between Hockstadter and two other selectmen was thick. Hockstadter, who has only been in office for a year, summarized the situation.

“A lot of people are mad [Buchstaber and I] got in, and some are glad,” he said. “I believe the selectmen are supposed to do the will of the people and the people didn’t want the land use ordinance. I feel bad that the girls [clerks] are going to leave, but nobody is irreplaceable and we will work it out.”

During the meeting, Carroll recognized that after 15 years it was no longer the will of the people for him to be in office.

“It’s been a 15-year experience I had, and I would have stayed another 15 years if people wanted me to, but I guess that’s not the case,” the selectmen chairman said, after which a few people spoke to thank Carroll for his service, and the crowd applauded his efforts.

One concerned resident, who also happens to be one of the few remaining planning board members, said his most immediate concern is how long the town office may be closed during the transition, since it will not be staffed after June 30 until replacement employees are found and trained.

“My car registration is due in July, and I think I’ll have to register it in June to make sure it gets done,” Jeff Perry said. “It’s not like I can go into Bangor and get it done there.”