Epsom’s fired road agent, Gordon Ellis, is firing back with a lawsuit alleging selectmen, “with a predetermined plan and with malice,” contrived the four charges that led to his firing.

The suit, filed in Superior Court in mid-January by Ellis’ attorney, Lee Nyquist, also claims selectmen had no right to fire Ellis since he was an elected official, not an appointed one.

“Mr. Ellis has a vested and expected liberty and property right to continue in his elected office for his full term in office and is subject to judgment by the people at the next town election,” the suit claims.

Selectmen fired Ellis on Oct. 30 after claiming that he failed to heed written and verbal warnings about his job performance as head of the highway department. Selectmen specifically claim Ellis failed to obtain selectmen’s signatures before proceeding with some contracted road work, failed to get proper permits for some bridge work, consistently failed to provide selectmen with weekly work schedules and failed to submit a timely budget to the town’s volunteer Road Advisory Committee.

Three of the five current selectmen have been on the Road Advisory Committee within the last year.

Ellis appealed his firing, and was twice supported by hordes of residents at public hearings before selectmen upheld the four charges, and Ellis’ termination, during a Dec. 19 deliberation out of the public’s view. That deliberation followed a November public attended by nearly 200 people, many of whom cheered Ellis and jeered selectmen, whom cochairman Mary Frambach then described as a “fact-finding” panel. Ellis’ suit repeatedly alleges the nonpublic deliberations, and the temporary sealing of those nonpublic meeting minutes, were in violation of the Right to Know Law.

The suit also claims selectmen harbored prejudice against Ellis throughout the appeal process.

“There was an actual conflict of interest for the selectmen to serve as prosecutor, fact finder and judge,” Nyquist wrote. When interviewed, Nyquist said, “I think the entire proceeding was infected with conflict of interest and bias.”

Ellis, who was elected road agent in 2003 and again in 2005, said he plans to run for road agent again this year.

Ellis seems to have some support in his rift with selectmen. Six warrant articles, all submitted as citizen petitions, up for discussion at this year’s annual Town Meeting, would either alter the makeup of the current board of selectmen or ostensibly diminish the board’s authority. One article asks whether to give department heads authority to manage department budgets based on Town Meeting results. Another article would strip the selectmen’s authority to draw from a road reconstruction fund, and give that authority to the road agent.

Three warrant articles call for the removal of the board’s incumbents: Co-chairman Joni Kitson, Peter Bosiak and Bob McKechnie.

Kitson had nothing to say about matters related to Ellis.

“I’m not going to comment on that lawsuit whatsoever,” she said.

A hearing on Ellis’ lawsuit is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 5, at Merrimack Superior Court.