PERRY – Voters Monday at the opening of the annual town meeting narrowly approved a $3.6 million deal with an Oklahoma-based liquefied natural gas developer.

The vote, which was conducted by secret ballot, was 229 to 211.

David Turner, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, who spearheaded the deal and is pro-LNG, said Monday night, “It’s up to the selectmen to put this stuff out there and the voters told us they are happy with what we did. If there is a recount, there won’t be any difference in the vote, not enough to matter.”

Selectwoman Jeanne Guisinger, who is anti-LNG, said Monday that she was disappointed with the results.

It was unclear Monday night whether there would be a recount.

“This was certainly no mandate. I think that people understood the shortcomings of the whole framework agreement and I feel we have a lot more work to do as a town,” Guisinger said. “We have a lot of bright people here who can add a lot to the process.”

Plans call for Quoddy Bay LNG to build a multimillion-dollar LNG facility at Split Rock on tribal land at neighboring Pleasant Point. An underwater pipe across Half Moon Cove near Route 190 would connect the pier at Pleasant Point with a tank farm in nearby Perry.

Recently, two of the three selectmen approved a $3.6 million annual payment from the company. It was that deal that was voted on Monday night. This is not the first time voters were asked to approve a contract with the company. Several years ago they turned down a $1 million agreement with Quoddy Bay LNG.

Brian Smith, Quoddy Bay LNG project manager, said Monday, “The Perry community has made it clear that it understands and embraces all of the opportunities associated with the project by accepting this agreement.”

Voters also narrowly rejected a proposal to create a negotiating committee to work on a new deal for the town if the $3.6 million deal was not approved. The vote was 236 to 205 against.

That committee sparked controversy when a special town meeting was held last month even though the selectmen did not approve of it. The legality of the meeting was questioned by two of the three selectmen because it was not called by them, but by the opponents of the deal with the help of a notary public.

Illegal or not, in the end 72 people voted by secret ballot in favor of the creation of a negotiating committee, while 23 voted no. When presented with the results of that meeting, Turner and Selectman Dick Adams ignored it.

Campaigning was in full swing on Monday, at least for one side. Andrea Barstow and Fred Moore III of Quoddy Bay LNG were using their lunch hour to put up campaign signs for Adams, who was up for re-election.

They were spotted on the corner of Routes 1 and 190 placing a sign in front of the now defunct Wabanaki Gasoline Station and Convenience Store. Adams narrowly beat his opponent Austin Frost by a vote of 223 to 210.

Town Clerk Janice Scanlon said Monday she had more than 90 absentee ballots, more than she’s had during any other election – state or federal. Turnout also was higher than usual for Monday’s vote. In all, 442 residents out of 630 registered voters cast ballots.

The vote Monday was nothing new for the LNG developer.

Last week, voters at Pleasant Point and at their sister reservation at Indian Township near Princeton, overwhelmingly approved the sale for $1.5 million of a 300-acre parcel to Quoddy Bay LNG near the developers’ proposed tank farm on the Old Eastport Road.

The land will be used during the construction phase of the project. The developers agreed to return the land to the Passamaquoddy Tribe for $1 when they were done with it.

In February, voters at Indian Township overwhelmingly approved a tax agreement between the Passamaquoddy Tribe and Quoddy Bay. The developer now has the backing of the full tribe to build an LNG facility at Pleasant Point, something it did not have last year.

Although the developers have a number of votes under their belt, they still have to jump through numerous federal, state and local permit hoops before they can begin to turn some ground.

Voters will be back tonight for the rest of the town meeting and to deal with money issues.