An Epsom resident has filed suit in Merrimack Superior Court alleging certain selectmen have been involved in stealing town services, covering up lies and improperly holding closed-door meetings.

Local business owner David Fiorentino claims Selectman Robert McKechnie has repeatedly lied to the public, and that another selectman, Joni Kitson, has tried to cover for McKechnie at least twice. He also alleges selectmen have improperly noticed 32 nonpublic meetings over a nearly seven-month period beginning last September, and he’s asking for McKechnie and Kitson’s ouster.

“These selectmen have damaged our trust in them,” Fiorentino said. “If you do something wrong, that’s OK, but when it’s discovered, you have to face up to it.”

The two selectmen have been embattled since the board’s October firing of elected road agent Gordon Ellis, who was handily re-elected in March. In a nonbinding vote spurred by a citizen’s petition, voters in March also supported Kitson’s removal from office by a 774-247 vote and McKechnie’s removal by an 812-219 vote.

Both selectmen have said they don’t plan to resign, and neither had much to say about Fiorentino’s suit.

“It’s a load of crap,” said McKechnie, who was elected in 2006. “It’s one of those good-old-boy network games again.”

He elaborated, “if you step into the middle of the good-old-boys network, they’re going to do anything they can to throw you out.”

Kitson declined to comment on allegations in the suit that she twice tried to protect McKechnie after he allegedly tried to cover-up his actions.

“I have no comment on it,” Kitson said.

Fiorentino specifically claims McKechnie unloaded demolition debris and bags of trash from his personal business into a town trash bin on the Highway Department property, and that he tried to cover up his actions at selectmen’s meetings and to a county investigator.

The suit claims McKechnie admitted to putting the bags in the trash bin, but didn’t admit to unloading the demolition debris until he was interrogated by Merrimack County Attorney Mike Russell, who was contacted by Fiorentino.

Fiorentino also accuses Kitson of a “cover up.”

“(Kitson) had knowledge that a crime had been committed against the town and refused to take any legal action or even investigate the matter to find the truth,” the suit claims.

Fiorentino also claims Mc- Kechnie lobbied for the board to do roadwork for a resident who’d been one of McKechnie’s personal clients. He said Mc- Kechnie didn’t disclose his relationship to the resident until confronted at a later selectmen’s meeting. Again, argues Fiorentino, Kitson tried to “cover up” the situation by saying McKechnie had disclosed his relationship to the resident from the outset.

On June 4, a temporary court hearing is scheduled for Fiorentino’s final claim that selectmen have routinely inappropriately provided notice for nonpublic meetings. He also claims McKechnie has unlawfully attended portions of nonpublic meetings from which he recused himself.

“These people are making poor decisions, in secrecy, and they’re costing the town a lot of money,” Fiorentino said. “We, the people, are being left out.”

Kitson, who was elected in 2006 for her second term on the board, said she’s confident the board has always properly posted nonpublic meetings in its agendas based on classes she’s taken and conversations with town counsel, the New Hampshire Local Government Center and the Merrimack County Attorney’s office.

“If you look at our agenda, we do it according to the RSA,” she said. “From what I am told, that is sufficient.”

McKechnie and Kitson each questioned Fiorentino’s claims regarding the trash dumping since it was already subjected to a formal investigation by county officials and Epsom police.

“That whole thing was investigated by the county attorney’s office and they didn’t find anything,” McKechnie said.

Said Kitson, “They said there was no criminal charge.”

Mike Russell, who investigated Fiorentino’s original claims, couldn’t be reached for comment. McKechnie said he’s tired of critics accusing him and other current and past board members of disingenuousness.

“I’m not sure where they’re going to go next,” he said.

“They’re going to take us to court, and it’s just going to waste the taxpayers’ money.”

But Fiorentino said he’s convinced the two selectmen should go.

“They don’t want to be held accountable for their actions,” he said. “They’re not open, they’re not accountable, and if you ask them questions, they give you drivel for answers.”