PARIS – Paris voters rejected a proposal at a special town meeting Monday that would have allowed the electoral board to sell or dispose of any property, regardless of how it was acquired.

Currently, the elected board only has the authority to sell properties acquired through foreclosure for nonpayment of taxes; this is a routine item approved each year at the annual town meeting.

Residents voted 11-8 against the article. Some concerns centered around the fact that although the article required a public hearing before any property could be sold, it did not require the selectboard to heed public advice expressed at that hearing.

Others felt that the special town meeting was not well publicized and that a special town meeting was not necessarily needed and that the matter should be brought to the annual town meeting.

Town Manager Natalie Andrews announced that the first property was listed online for $109,070, while the other was listed in July for $68,380. The properties, both under an acre, were later combined into a single bid for $80,000. No offers were received.

He then realized the board of selectmen could not sell the properties because they were not taxed, which led to the special town meeting.

The town received a $40,000 bid from one person for both properties, which the board of selectmen accepted, Andrews said.

However, due to the “no” vote at the special district meeting, the election board still does not have the authority to sell the parcels.

The properties were originally purchased for $80,000 at the annual town meeting in 2015.

Local resident Janet Jamison said she didn’t understand why there was such a rush to sell the land.

“I think this is really short-sighted,” Janet Jamison said. “This is an expansion of government power.”

“The board decided to start getting rid of town-owned properties,” Andrews said.

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