Allenstown selectmen twice voted not to place a recommendation by the controversial $15 million warrant article for a sewer plant upgrade, though a non-recommendation renders the warrant article defective.

The warrant article, which proposed a 30-year bond to dramatically increase capacity at the maxed-out plant that serves both Allenstown and Pembroke, was deemed “defective” by the town’s bond attorney. The warrant article will remain on the ballot, but selectmen won’t have authority to borrow the $15 million even if the plan gets the 60 percent of the vote needed to pass this year.

The selectmen’s non-recommendations don’t sit well with sewer commission Chairman James Rodger, who said the commission will now have to regroup before submitting plans for the plant at next year’s annual Town Meeting.

“It’s just going to cost us more time and money,” he said. “We wanted to hear what people had to say about this plan this year.” He said selectmen were irresponsible by singling out the sewer plant warrant article for “non-recommendation” from others on this year’s ballot.

“I think the select board , on this particular item, has shown a lack of leadership,” Rodger said. “They don’t want to be associated with a $15 million project.”

Selectmen’s Chairman Sandy McKenney said her feeling all along has been that selectmen didn’t want to influence voters on such a big money item.

“For a lot of residents, whatever the selectmen and the budget committee vote, they just go along with that,” McKenney said. “We didn’t want to sway the residents one way or another.”

Selectmen initially voted unanimously to withhold a recommendation. Later, after meetings between the town’s attorney and an attorney representing the sewer commission, the board upheld its earlier vote 2-1.

Attorneys Biron Bedard, representing the town, and John Teague, representing the sewer commission, couldn’t be reached. Teague was out of the office until after press time, and Bedard didn’t return a call by press time.

Selectman Peter Viar said he changed his vote because he doesn’t see the use in moving forward with a toothless warrant article.

“Honestly, I didn’t think it had the chance to pass this year,” said Viar, “but I don’t think that gives us the right to put a defective warrant article out there.”

Though Viar didn’t say he supported the plan one way or the other, he said selectmen should have put forward a recommendation.

“It’s like every other warrant (article) on the ballot,” he said. “We should choose to agree or disagree.”

The town’s budget committee was split 4-4 on its support of the sewer plan. With the tie, the committee’s official recommendation on the ballot would have been a “no” vote.

McKenney said the $15 million sewer plan is the biggest local issue she’s dealt with in her years as a selectman and budget committee member.

“I don’t know if we were wrong in not recommending it – I don’t know,” said McKenney. “This is the first time I’ve ever had a warrant article that large.”