EPSOM – Mistrust of the board of selectmen was a running theme of Epsom’s deliberative session of Town Meeting, and several warrant articles up for vote on Election Day will prove whether such mistrust pervades the small town.

Several residents backed the beleaguered volunteer board and suggested personality conflicts are hindering town affairs.

“Give them a little bit of a break, go to the voting booth, and agree to disagree,” resident Jay Golden told a group of residents who’ve been outspoken against the board.

One hundred and one residents turned out to the deliberative session – during which residents had the opportunity to modify ballot questions for voting day, which is Saturday, Feb. 3, at Epsom Central School. Several petitioned warrant articles that would dramatically alter the makeup of the town’s executive board or strip it of significant spending authority withstood the session unchanged.

Resident Rick Belanger circulated three warrant articles that call to remove the three returning selectmen – Peter Bosiak, Bob McKechnie and cochairman Joni Kitson – for behavior “unbecoming” of their post. Town Moderator Gary Matteson said the warrant articles are nonbinding, but Belanger said he submitted them in part to take the pulse of the town.

“I’ve been talking to a lot of people” said Belanger. “We’re quite upset with how the selectmen conduct themselves.”

Belanger said the upcoming vote “will give a good idea of the thinking of the town to see if the selectmen can get themselves heading in the right direction.”

Selectmen have been embroiled in controversy since their firing of popular elected road agent Gordon Ellis late last year.

Budget committee Chairman Steve Warner said he was upset by some of the language in the petitioned warrant articles, and introduced a motion that would affirm the job of of the three selectmen.

“I feel it’s extremely inappropriate to single out individuals by name,” he said.

Warner’s motion failed after a secret ballot vote. Another petitioned warrant article would strip selectmen of the authority to spend from the town’s road reconstruction fund, and give that responsibility solely to the road agent.

By another secret ballot vote, residents denied an amendment proposed by Warner to change the warrant article to affirm selectmen’s’ control of the fund. Kitson warned against giving such financial power to one person rather than the five-member board.

“You’re putting that onto one person and one person only,” she said.

Earlier in the meeting, after word from the budget committee that it hadn’t been seeing accountability from selectmen regarding previous spending of the road fund, residents voted to trim down a $150,000 request for that fund to $10.

Zoning board Chairman Keith Cota also introduced a successful motion that asks selectmen to prepare a five-year roads plan for review at a public hearing and by the budget committee. Selectmen were also accused by multiple residents of loose legal spending and a propensity to conduct business in closed door sessions.

Resident David Fiorentino said he’s been regularly attending selectmen’s’ meetings, and said he counted 22 times in a three month span when selectmen conducted business in nonpublic sessions.

“It’s time and time again,” Fiorentino said.

Epsom resident and attorney Tony Soltani, who’s currently representing the town in several legal battles, jumped to the defense of selectmen and said they are required by law to be tightlipped about pending litigation.

“I can’t say a lot of things, but I do know a lot of things,” Soltani said.

He said selectmen may occasionally make legal mistakes, but said he’s confident the current selectmen “do try to comply with the law.”

Also at the meeting, residents confirmed two ballot questions – each asking for $50,000 – for funding new town offices. Article 4 will ask voters to support spending $50,000 for engineering fees for new town offices at the site of the new library and old town hall. Article 8 will ask for $50,000 in a new fund to buy land and/ or buildings for new town offices.

Budget committee member Larry Yeaton proposed a passing motion that added the word “remodeling” to the question, which he said could make the fund available for the potential renovation of the old Epsom Bible Church building. A vote on whether to move that building to the new library site is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 13.

Fire Chief Stewart Yeaton explained several requests generated from his department, including a request for a new $171,734 ambulance. He said the current ambulance, which is six years old, has generated about $1 million in revenue for town, but that the ambulance has been regularly out of service recently, hindering both the safety of residents and incoming revenue. Yeaton also explained a proposal to spend $26,775 to refurbish the body of a 1993 fire truck.

If the article fails, said selectmen’s Cochairman Mary Frambach, the town could lose its insurance rating, which would likely translate to higher tax bills. Yeaton said he proposed the expenditure as a warrant article rather than building it into the town’s operating budget, since voters have rejected the town’s budget in each of the last two years.

Residents supported only one change to the town’s proposed $2.5 million budget by adding just over $4,000 to the library’s budget to fix a typographical error.